Ethereum is an open-source, decentralized blockchain platform with smart contract functionality. Its native cryptocurrency, Ether, holds the second-largest market capitalization among cryptocurrencies, trailing only Bitcoin.
December 2013: Founding of Ethereum
Ethereum was founded in December 2013 by Vitalik Buterin, Anthony Di Iorio, Charles Hoskinson, Mihai Alisie, and Amir Chetrit. Joseph Lubin, Gavin Wood, and Jeffrey Wilcke joined as founders in early 2014.
2013: Ethereum is Conceived
Ethereum was conceived in 2013 by Vitalik Buterin, who envisioned a platform for decentralized applications beyond just financial transactions.
2013: Buterin's Vision for Decentralized Applications
In late 2013, Vitalik Buterin authored a white paper outlining his vision for a platform that could facilitate decentralized applications beyond just currency. He argued for a more robust programming language to expand the potential of blockchain technology.
January 2014: Ethereum's Announcement and Early Development
Ethereum was publicly announced in January 2014 at the North American Bitcoin Conference in Miami. Following the announcement, the founders gathered to further develop the project's direction, eventually deciding to establish it as a non-profit.
August 2014: Formal Development and Crowdsale
Formal development of Ethereum began in early 2014 under Ethereum Switzerland GmbH (EthSuisse). A public crowdsale took place from July to August 2014, raising funds for development and distributing Ether tokens.
2014: Development and Crowdfunding
Development work on Ethereum began in 2014, funded by a public crowdsale where participants could buy Ether using Bitcoin.
2014: Early Founders Join
In 2014, Joseph Lubin, Gavin Wood, and Jeffrey Wilcke joined the Ethereum project as founders, contributing to its early development.
2014: Prototype Development and Testing
Throughout 2014 and 2015, the Ethereum Foundation developed and tested several prototypes of the Ethereum platform, culminating in the "Olympic" public beta and the bug bounty program.
July 2015: Ethereum Launches
In July 2015, the Ethereum network went live, marking the official launch of the platform. This followed a period of crowdfunding and development work.
July 2015: Ethereum's "Frontier" Launch
On July 30, 2015, Ethereum officially launched its "Frontier" release, marking the creation of its genesis block. This followed a series of prototype releases and stress tests.
October 2015: Etheria, the First NFT Project, Launches on Ethereum
In October 2015, history was made with the launch of Etheria, the pioneering NFT project, on the Ethereum network. Etheria presented a 3D map composed of tradable and customizable hexagonal tiles. This innovative project was showcased live at DEVCON1 in November of the same year, marking a significant milestone in the evolution of NFTs.
November 2015: ERC-20 Token Standard Proposed, Enabling Fungible Tokens on Ethereum
November 2015 witnessed a pivotal development with Fabian Vogelsteller's proposal of the ERC-20 (Ethereum Request-for-Comments #20) Token Standard. This groundbreaking standard paved the way for the creation and utilization of fungible tokens on the Ethereum blockchain.
January 2016: Ethereum's Limited Transaction Processing Capacity Raises Scalability Concerns
In January 2016, concerns were raised regarding the scalability of the Ethereum network due to its limited transaction processing capacity. At that time, the Ethereum protocol could only handle around 25 transactions per second, a stark contrast to the Visa payment platform's processing rate of 45,000 payments per second. This disparity highlighted the need for improvements to Ethereum's scalability to accommodate a growing user base and transaction volume.
June 2016: The DAO Hack and Hard Fork
In June 2016, The DAO, a decentralized autonomous organization built on Ethereum, was hacked, resulting in the theft of US $50 million worth of DAO tokens. This event led to a contentious hard fork, splitting Ethereum into two blockchains: Ethereum, where the theft was reversed, and Ethereum Classic, which continued on the original chain.
2016: The DAO Attack Highlights Smart Contract Vulnerability
In 2016, a significant event exposed the vulnerabilities of smart contracts on a public blockchain. The attack on The DAO, a decentralized autonomous organization, demonstrated that while bugs and security holes in smart contracts are visible to everyone, they cannot be quickly fixed. This event emphasized the challenges and risks associated with smart contract security in the context of blockchain technology.
March 2017: Formation of the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance
In March 2017, the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA) was formed, bringing together blockchain startups, Fortune 500 companies, and research institutions to collaborate on Ethereum's enterprise applications.
May 2017: Rapid Growth of the EEA
By May 2017, the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA) had grown to 116 members, reflecting significant interest in Ethereum's potential for enterprise solutions.
July 2017: Continued Expansion of the EEA
The Enterprise Ethereum Alliance continued to grow, reaching over 150 members by July 2017, with notable additions including major corporations like MasterCard and Cisco Systems.
November 2017: Proposal Presented for Sharding Ethereum to Improve Scalability
During Ethereum's Devcon 3 in November 2017, a proposal was put forth to address the scalability challenges faced by the network. This proposal suggested partitioning the global state and computation across multiple shard chains. If implemented, this sharding mechanism would allow each node in the network to only store and validate a subset of the overall data, leading to improved efficiency and scalability.
2017: CryptoKitties and Scalability Concerns
The launch of CryptoKitties in 2017, a blockchain-based game using NFTs, brought mainstream attention to Ethereum but also highlighted concerns about the network's scalability due to the game's heavy consumption of network resources.
2017: Ethereum Faces Congestion Issues, Highlighting Scalability Challenges
In 2017, the Ethereum network encountered congestion problems, underscoring the challenges it faced in terms of scalability. These congestion issues, exemplified by the popularity of CryptoKitties, a blockchain-based game, highlighted the need for solutions to enhance Ethereum's capacity to handle growing transaction volumes and user activity.
January 2018: Ethereum's Market Capitalization Growth
By January 2018, Ether became the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, trailing only Bitcoin, a position it maintained in the following years.
January 2018: ERC-721 NFT Standard
In January 2018, the ERC-721 standard for Non-Fungible Tokens was introduced, laying the foundation for the booming NFT ecosystem on Ethereum. This marked a significant milestone in the development of digital collectibles.
2019: Virgil Griffith's Arrest
In 2019, Virgil Griffith, an Ethereum Foundation employee, was arrested by the US government for presenting at a blockchain conference in North Korea.
October 2020: DeFi Protocols Gain Traction and Attract Significant Investments
By October 2020, the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem experienced significant growth and interest. Notably, over US$11 billion was invested across various DeFi protocols, showcasing the burgeoning popularity and potential of this innovative financial landscape.
March 2021: Visa Begins Settling Stablecoin Transactions Using Ethereum
In March 2021, Visa Inc. made a significant move by starting to settle stablecoin transactions using the Ethereum blockchain.
April 2021: Major Financial Institutions Invest in Ethereum Software Development
In April 2021, prominent financial institutions including JP Morgan Chase, UBS, and MasterCard collectively invested US$65 million into ConsenSys, a software development firm specializing in building infrastructure for Ethereum. This investment underscored the growing interest and recognition of Ethereum's potential within the financial sector.
April 2021: Ethereum "Berlin" Upgrade Implemented
The first of two network upgrades in 2021, "Berlin", was implemented on April 14, 2021.
August 2021: Ethereum Blockchain Experiences Brief Fork Due to Incompatible Software Versions
On August 27, 2021, the Ethereum blockchain encountered a short-lived fork. This event arose from clients operating on different software versions that were incompatible with each other, leading to a temporary divergence in the blockchain.
2021: Continued Market Dominance
As of 2021, Ethereum remained the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, solidifying its position as a leading blockchain platform.
2021: Beeple's Digital Image with NFT Sells for US$69.3 Million at Christie's
The year 2021 witnessed a landmark event in the NFT space when a digital image created by Beeple, accompanied by an NFT, was sold for an astounding US$69.3 million at Christie's. This sale propelled Beeple to the position of the third-most-valuable living artist based on auction prices at the time, highlighting the explosive growth and mainstream recognition of NFTs in the art world.
2021: Griffith's Guilty Plea
In 2021, Virgil Griffith pleaded guilty to conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act related to his presentation at a North Korean blockchain conference.
September 2022: Ethereum's Transition to Proof-of-Stake
In September 2022, Ethereum transitioned from a Proof-of-Work consensus mechanism to Proof-of-Stake, known as "The Merge". This significantly reduced Ethereum's energy consumption by an estimated 99%.
September 2022: Ethereum Transitions to Proof-of-Stake with "The Merge" Upgrade
On September 15, 2022, Ethereum underwent a significant transformation by switching from a proof-of-work consensus mechanism to proof-of-stake. This upgrade, known as "The Merge", marked the first phase in a series of upgrades aimed at enhancing the network's efficiency and sustainability. This resulted in a 99% reduction in Ethereum's energy consumption.
March 13, 2024: "Dencun" Upgrade Goes Live, Reducing Layer 2 Transaction Fees
On March 13, 2024, the "Dencun" or "Deneb-Cancun" upgrade, representing the second phase of Ethereum's upgrade series, was successfully implemented. This upgrade brought a notable improvement by lowering transaction fees on the numerous Layer 2 networks built upon the base Ethereum blockchain, enhancing the scalability and affordability of Ethereum-based applications.