History of Ethereum in Timeline

Ethereum is a decentralized, open-source blockchain platform distinguished by its smart contract functionality and its native cryptocurrency, Ether. It stands as the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, trailing only Bitcoin. Its key innovation lies in enabling developers to build and deploy decentralized applications (dApps) and decentralized finance (DeFi) solutions on its network. The blockchain's flexibility and programmability has spurred a wide array of uses, from NFTs and blockchain-based games to complex financial instruments. Ethereum is consistently evolving, including a transition to Proof-of-Stake, aiming to improve scalability and energy efficiency.

December 2013: Initial Ethereum founders

In December 2013, the initial Ethereum founders were Vitalik Buterin, Anthony Di Iorio, Charles Hoskinson, Mihai Alisie and Amir Chetrit.

2013: Ethereum conceived by Vitalik Buterin

In 2013, Ethereum was conceived by programmer Vitalik Buterin. Other founders would later include Gavin Wood, Charles Hoskinson, Anthony Di Iorio, and Joseph Lubin.

2013: Ethereum initially described in white paper

In late 2013, Ethereum was initially described in a white paper by Vitalik Buterin, outlining a platform for decentralized applications and a more robust language for application development.

January 2014: Ethereum announced at North American Bitcoin Conference

In January 2014, Ethereum was announced at the North American Bitcoin Conference in Miami where founders developed a fuller sense of what Ethereum might become.

August 2014: Ethereum development funded by online public crowd sale

From July to August 2014, Ethereum development was funded by an online public crowd sale, in which participants bought ether with bitcoin.

2014: Ethereum prototypes developed

In 2014 and 2015, the Ethereum Foundation developed several codenamed prototypes of Ethereum over 18 months.

2014: Development work began and was crowdfunded

In 2014, development work on Ethereum began and was crowdfunded.

2014: Additional Ethereum founders

In early 2014, Joseph Lubin, Gavin Wood, and Jeffrey Wilcke were added as founders of Ethereum.

July 2015: Official launch of Ethereum platform

On July 30, 2015, "Frontier" marked the official launch of the Ethereum platform, and Ethereum created its "genesis block".

July 2015: Ethereum network goes live

On July 30, 2015, the Ethereum network went live, allowing anyone to deploy decentralized applications.

October 2015: First NFT project deployed

In October 2015, the first NFT project, Etheria, a 3D map of tradable and customizable hexagonal tiles, was deployed to the Ethereum network.

November 2015: ERC-20 Token Standard proposed

In November 2015, Fabian Vogelsteller proposed the ERC-20 (Ethereum Request-for-Comments #20) Token Standard which allows for fungible tokens on the Ethereum blockchain.

January 2016: Ethereum protocol could process about 25 transactions per second

As of January 2016, the Ethereum protocol could process about 25 transactions per second.

June 2016: The DAO exploited and tokens stolen

In June 2016, The DAO was exploited when US$50 million of DAO tokens were stolen, leading to a hard fork and the creation of Ethereum Classic.

2016: Attack on The DAO

One example of the visibility of bugs on a public blockchain is the 2016 attack on The DAO, which could not be quickly stopped or reversed.

March 2017: Creation of the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance

In March 2017, blockchain startups, research groups, and Fortune 500 companies announced the creation of the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA).

May 2017: EEA Membership Grows

By May 2017, the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance had grown to 116 enterprise members, including ConsenSys, CME Group, and Microsoft.

July 2017: EEA Membership Surpasses 150

By July 2017, the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance had over 150 members, including MasterCard and Cisco Systems.

November 2017: Proposal to partition global state and computation into shard chains

A proposal to partition global state and computation into shard chains was presented at Ethereum's Devcon 3 in November 2017.

2017: Network faced congestion problems

In 2017 the Ethereum network faced congestion problems, such as in relation to CryptoKitties.

2017: CryptoKitties launched on Ethereum network

In 2017, CryptoKitties, a blockchain game featuring digital cat artwork as NFTs, was launched on the Ethereum network, gaining mainstream attention and highlighting scalability concerns.

January 2018: Ether was second-largest cryptocurrency

By January 2018, ether was the second-largest cryptocurrency in terms of market capitalization, behind bitcoin.

January 2018: ERC-721 non-fungible token standard published

In January 2018, ERC-721: Non-Fungible Token Standard, the first official NFT standard on Ethereum, was published, allowing Ethereum to become central to a multi-billion dollar digital collectibles market.

2019: Virgil Griffith arrested

In 2019, Ethereum Foundation employee Virgil Griffith was arrested by the US government for presenting at a blockchain conference in North Korea.

October 2020: Over $11 billion invested in DeFi protocols

As of October 2020, over US$11 billion was invested in various DeFi protocols on Ethereum.

March 2021: Visa began settling stablecoin transactions using Ethereum

In March 2021, Visa Inc. announced that it began settling stablecoin transactions using Ethereum.

April 2021: Investment in ConsenSys

In April 2021, JP Morgan Chase, UBS, and MasterCard invested US$65 million into ConsenSys, a software development firm that builds Ethereum-related infrastructure.

April 2021: "Berlin" network upgrade implemented

The "Berlin" network upgrade was implemented on April 14, 2021.

August 2021: Brief blockchain fork experienced

On August 27, 2021, the Ethereum blockchain experienced a brief fork due to incompatible software versions.

2021: Ether maintained position as second-largest cryptocurrency

As of 2021, ether maintained its relative position as the second-largest cryptocurrency in terms of market capitalization, behind bitcoin.

2021: Christie's sold an NFT by Beeple

In 2021, Christie's sold a digital image with an NFT by Beeple for US$69.3 million, making him the third-most-valuable living artist in terms of auction prices at the time.