Over the past decade, Ethereum has changed the blockchain landscape.
Ethereum has continually evolved from its initial coin offering to becoming the second largest cryptocurrency by market cap, implementing major upgrades such as Proof-of-Stake (PoS) and the move to Layer 2 scaling solutions, and solidifying its position as a cornerstone of the Web3 ecosystem despite the emergence of several alternatives over the years.
Ethereum’s 10 Year History
Looking back at its origins, Ethereum Foundation researcher Justin Drake noted that Ethereum’s initial coin offering (ICO) began on July 22, 2014, with a price of 2,000 ETH and 1 BTC per sale unit, in a completely permissionless environment with no venture capital influence or vesting period.
This rate was only applicable for the first 14 days. After that, the price started to gradually decrease, with each passing day the price of ETH per unit decreasing. By the end of the sale period on September 2, 2014, the rate had dropped to 1337.077 ETH per unit.
Fast forward to the modern era and value dynamics have changed dramatically. Today, 1 BTC buys less than 20 ETH. Drake noted that few assets have matched Bitcoin’s performance over the past decade, and even fewer have outperformed it by 100x.
Ethereum has evolved into a vital component of the blockchain ecosystem. To date, 4.3 million ETH have been burned in gas fees since the introduction of EIP-1559, with many more expected to be burned with the introduction of BLOB transactions.
Additionally, Ethereum’s staking mechanism currently provides economic security of $100 billion, 10 times that of Bitcoin, and supports DeFi and re-staking, significantly increasing the economic bandwidth of the Internet of Value.
Ethereum’s journey to institutional investors begins
While all eyes are on the Ethereum ETF, Drake said this signals Ethereum is increasingly being recognized as a digital product and marks the beginning of the cryptocurrency’s journey to institutional investors.
As announced last week, the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) plans to list five spot Ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs) on July 23, pending final regulatory approval. This follows approval from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on May 23, which approved the listing of multiple spot Ethereum ETFs.
The five Ethereum ETFs scheduled for launch are 21Shares Core Ethereum ETF, Fidelity Ethereum Fund, Invesco Galaxy Ethereum ETF, VanEck Ethereum ETF, and Franklin Ethereum ETF.
To attract investors and secure their position in the market, most ETH ETF issuers plan to offer temporary fee reductions or waivers when their funds begin trading.
