A short history of Ethereum

A brief history of Ethereum

2013

A 19-year-old computer programmer ( and Bitcoin Magazine cofounder) named Vitalik Buterin releases a whitepaper proposing a highly flexible blockchain that could support virtually any kind of transaction.
Brian Armstrong, our CEO and co-founder, recently spoke with Vitalik Buterin, creator of Ethereum, about topics ranging from ETH2 to scaling the cryptoeconomy.

2014

The Toronto-based teenager, along with a team of cofounders including Gavin Wood, crowdfunds the development of the Ethereum protocol with the sale of $ 18 million in pre-launch tokens.

2015

The first public version of the Ethereum blockchain launches in July. Smart contract functionality begins to roll out on the Ethereum blockchain.

2016

Hackers steal around $ 50 million from a smart-comtract-powered venture fund called the DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization) by exploiting a software bug.
In a divisive vote, Ethereum’s community chooses to revise the protocol in a way that would restore the lost funds. This results in the Ethereum blockchain branching off (via a hard fork) into two separate blockchains, each with its own active community: Ethereum and Ethereum Classic.

What is Ethereum ? 

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2017

The ERC-20 standard is created, making it easier for developers to build compatible applications. ERC-20 defines a way to create an asset (or token) on top of the Ethereum blockchain.
The first widely popular Ethereum-based app arrives in the form of a game called Cryptokitties, in which users collect and trade digital cats. It becomes a genuine craze; at the peak, rare digital cats sell for upwards of $200,000.

The nonprofit Ethereum Enterprise Alliance launches to develop practical applications for smart contract technology. Members include JP Morgan, Samsung, Microsoft, and Mastercard. MakerDAO – the first Decentralized finance (or DeFi) protocol on the Ethereum blockchain – launches. Maker also introduces the first ETH-based stablecoin, DAI.
ETH breaks $100 USD for the first time.

2018

DeFi, which aims to transform the financial-services industry by making transactions faster, cheaper, and more secure, gains momentum with the arrival of leading protocol Compound and decentralized exchange Uniswap.

The USDC stablecoin is launched. Backed by the CENTRE Consortium, a partnership between Coinbase and Circle, it reaches $1 billion in issued coins in the first year.
ETH breaks $1,000 USD for the first time in January, before falling back under $100.

2020

The Ethereum 2.0 upgrade begins in December. The complete transition from Ethereum 1.0 to Ethereum 2.0 is scheduled to take around two years to complete.
As part of Ethereum 2.0’s first phase, Proof of Stake is introduced. ETH 1.0 continues to use Proof of Work as its consensus mechanism.

2021

ETH hits new all-time high above $1,700 in February
See the current price at https://www.coinbase.com/price/ethereum

How do you buy Ethereum?

However you acquire your ETH, you’ll need to understand a few basic concepts. Every address on the Ethereum network is issued a public key and a private key, and you’ll need a wallet to manage your crypto holdings.

Public key: Think of this as the crypto version of an email address. Your Ethereum public key is where people can send you ETH and Ethereum-based tokens like USDC and Dai. You can safely give this out to others.

Private key: Think of this like your password. You should generally avoid giving this out to people. A private key is a long string of letters and numbers. (It can also be in the form of a series of words called a seed phrase.) It’s crucial to keep track of your private keys.
If you lose them, you lose your Ether forever.
Wallet: To store and secure your Ether you’ll need a wallet. If you’re just starting out, the easiest option is to make an account via the Coinbase app or coinbase.com – in which case you’ll interact with a “custodial wallet” that stores and secures your private keys for you. As you progress you might want to investigate other wallet options that are built for interacting with decentralized finance (or DeFi) protocols such as Compound (a lending and savings app) or Uniswap (a decentralized exchange that allows you to trade cryptocurrencies).

How does Ethereum have value?

There are a few ways of thinking about the answer to this question. On one level, Ethereum's value is set by markets like any other asset. People buy it with Bitcoin, dollars, euros, yen and other currencies 24 hours a day. Depending on demand, the price can fluctuate from day to day. (Ethereum’s value tends to be volatile compared to currencies such as the US dollar or equities like Fortune 500 stocks because it is still an emerging technology.) But why the market prices it the way it does is a much more complicated question. To many investors Ethereum’s value is based on its flexibility as a platform for issuing stablecoins and running DeFi applications – resulting in a growing user base and growing transaction fees.

What’s next for Ethereum?

As of early 2021, Ethereum is host to the vast majority of blockchain applications and has a market cap of just under $200 billion, with over $55 billion locked into tokens on the blockchain. Popular stablecoins such as USDC and USDT mostly live on Ethereum today due to its network effects.
But a variety of new smart contract blockchains are beginning to compete in the space. So while Ethereum is the dominant market leader today, there is growing pressure for it to successfully execute the transition to Ethereum 2.0.