Ethereum Introduction
1. Genesis and Early Exploration (2013-2016)
Ethereum's concept originated from a young programmer — Vitalik Buterin (known online as V-God).
In 2013, he published the Ethereum whitepaper, aiming to create a general-purpose blockchain platform that supports smart contracts and decentralized applications (DApps), going beyond Bitcoin's limitation as merely "digital gold."
2014: Ethereum raised approximately $18 million through an ICO (Initial Coin Offering), with 1 BTC exchangeable for 2,000 ETH at the time (early ETH price was about $0.30).
July 30, 2015: The Ethereum mainnet officially launched, the genesis block was born, and ETH began trading (price about $0.70 - $2.83).
2016: The DAO Event and Hard Fork
The DAO was a decentralized autonomous organization project based on Ethereum that raised $150 million worth of ETH, but due to a reentrancy vulnerability in its smart contract, it was attacked, resulting in the theft of 3.6 million ETH.
To recover losses, the community passed a hard fork to roll back the chain to its state before the attack. Most community members chose the new chain (the current Ethereum ETH), while a few members who insisted on "code is law" remained on the original chain (Ethereum Classic ETC). This event became the first major test in Ethereum's development history.
2. ICO Frenzy and Ecosystem Emergence (2017-2018)
In 2017, the ICO model of issuing tokens based on Ethereum emerged, with a large number of projects raising ETH, driving massive demand for ETH.
Price surge: ETH price rose from about $8 in January 2017 to a high of nearly $1,400 in January 2018.
Bubble burst: With regulatory intervention and many ICO projects breaking issue prices, the market entered a bear market. In 2018, ETH price fell significantly, dropping to about $80 by year-end.
3. DeFi Summer and ETH 2.0 Upgrade (2019-2021)
During the bear market, Ethereum's ecosystem innovation did not stop. Decentralized finance (DeFi) and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) began to flourish, mainly built on Ethereum, driving new demand for block space.
Ecosystem explosion: Top DeFi applications like Uniswap (decentralized exchange), Aave (lending protocol), and NFT projects like CryptoPunks, Bored Ape Yacht Club emerged.
Price recovery: ETH price rose from the $100 - $300 range in 2019 to break through $700 in late 2020, and reached an all-time high of $4,891 in the November 2021 bull market.
Technical evolution: Ethereum began its long upgrade path to proof of stake (PoS) (i.e., ETH 2.0), aiming to address network congestion and high gas fee issues.
4. The Merge and Maturity (2022-)
September 15, 2022: The Merge
- Ethereum successfully merged from proof of work (PoW) to proof of stake (PoS), reducing energy consumption by about 99.95%, laying the foundation for future scalability upgrades. At the time of the merge, ETH price fluctuated in the $1,000 - $1,500 range.
2024: Spot ETF Approval and Scalability Proposals
The U.S. SEC approved spot Ethereum ETFs, providing a compliant investment channel for traditional capital and attracting significant institutional fund inflows.
Vitalik proposed new scalability proposals, planning to replace the existing Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) with a system based on the RISC-V architecture, expected to improve performance by 100 times, triggering market optimism.
Throughout 2024, ETH price rose amid volatility, from about $2,282 at the beginning of the year to breaking through $4,100 at its high, with a full-year gain of 48.57%.
August 2025: Driven by Federal Reserve dovish rhetoric (interest rate cut expectations) and continued institutional fund inflows through ETFs, ETH price broke through $4,880, reaching a new all-time high.
5. Ethereum's Flaws
Performance bottlenecks and high costs
- The Ethereum mainnet can only process dozens of transactions per second (TPS). Historical data shows that during network congestion, gas fees for a single transaction can reach tens or even hundreds of dollars.