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Ten years of ups and downs, a gorgeous transformation of digital assets
On July 30, 2025, Ethereum’s Creation Block will usher in its 10th year,In 2013, 19-year-old Vitalik Buterin wrote in a white paper: “Blockchain should not only keep accounts, but also run programs.” At that time, Bitcoin players scoffed: “Is this kid not a second-tier illness?”
As a result, ten years later, this “middle school second concept” grew intoMarket valueNearly $500 billionThe behemoth:
The main website was launched in 2015: the code loopholes are so numerous that they are like “sieve”, miners dig and scold;
DAO incident in 2016: Hackers stole $50 million, the community hard fork to save the yard, splitting out the “Ethereum Classic” (ETC);
“Merge” upgrade in 2022: abandoning energy-consuming mining machines and switching to environmentally friendly pledge mechanisms, energy consumption plummeted by 99.95%;
ETFs were approved in 2024: Wall Street’s doors are open, BlackRocks are entering the market with money to buy goods…
Looking back now, how is this blockchain?It is clearly the hard-core entrepreneurial history of a group of idealistic geeks – every crisis is like a game boss battle, and you will be upgraded to a higher level if you win.
Just last week, my friend who used to buy gold only sent me a message: “Buy me some Ethereum, but don’t tell my mom.”Institutional investors are pouring into Ethereum at an unprecedented rate, with listed companies such as BitMine and Sharplink Gaming already stockpiled over 1.3 million ETH worth billions of dollars – as if a gold rush in the digital age is taking place.
1. Price roller coaster, the engine of the bull market has been ignited
The Ethereum market in the past six months is more exciting than a roller coaster.
In the darkest moment in April, ETH fell below $1,500, plunged 65% from the all-time high in December 2024. At that time, the trading group next to my coffee cup was silent, and some people even began to discuss the possibility of changing careers and delivering food.
The Jedi counterattack in July caught everyone off guard.In just one month, ETH price soared from $2551 to $3707 (as of July 24), soaring by nearly 50%, what is even more amazing is that the ETH/BTC exchange rate has soared by 36% in one month. Ethereum has finally gotten rid of the shadow of Bitcoin and began to emerge from the independent market.
Standing at the $3,900 mark, the entire encryption circle was staring with breath: When will the psychological defense line of $5,000 be broken?Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz’s predictions represent the voice of most people:“ETH is destined to hit $5,000, and after the breakthrough, it will start the price discovery mode.”
Analysts’ forecast range ranges from conservative $4,308 (average for Finder panel) to radical $8,000, when they saw Eric Trump publicly support the idea that “ETH should be over $8,000” on Twitter,I realized: Ethereum’s narrative has changed completely.
2. Ten years of transformation, from smart contracts to financial infrastructure
Looking back at the evolutionary history of Ethereum, it is like watching an evolutionary theory of technology finance:
2015-2019: Idealism Testing Site
The concept of “world computer” in the white paper stuns the world, but the congested network and sky-high Gas fees made the crypto cat game paralyzed the entire system. At that time, ETH was more like a geek toy.
2020-2022: DeFi revolution engine
Decentralized applications such as Uniswap and Aave have exploded, and Ethereum has become the base for financial LEGO building blocks, and merged and upgraded to complete a gorgeous turn from energy-consuming proof of work (PoW) to energy-saving proof of stake (PoS).
2023 to the present: The rise of institutional assets
Why is Ethereum said to be “Android system in the blockchain industry”?
Bitcoin is like Nokia: it can only make phone calls and send text messages; Ethereum is Android: anyone can develop APPs.Where is its moat deep?
1. Ecology has become the “digital economy, water, electricity and coal”
• DeFi (decentralized finance): Uniswap’s trading volume is up to half of the Shanghai Stock Exchange in a day;
• NFT (digital assets): Boring ape sold for $1 million, Jay Chou collected it;
• Stablecoin overlords: 80% of USDC and USDT run on Ethereum, with an average daily settlement of US$12 billion…
2. Technology upgrades are like “installing rocket engines on highways”
• The implementation of sharding technology in 2025: transaction speed will range from 15 transactions per second to 100,000 transactions, and the handling fee will range from 10 US dollars → 0.001 US dollars;
• zkEVM is online: Privacy calculations keep on-chain transactions more confidential than Swiss banks, and Goldman Sachs line up to enter;
• The pledge threshold has plummeted: In the future, you can be a “blockchain shareholder” by using 1 ETH (about 3,000 dollars) and earn 6-8% annualized returns.
3. Policy “Green Lantern” possessed
The US Congress passed the CLARITY Act, which determined that ETH is a commodity rather than a securities; the GENIUS Act putsOn-chain stablecoins are included in supervision – compliance is equivalent to issuing admission tickets to institutions.
When BlackRock issued BUIDL funds on Ethereum, when JPMorgan launched deposit tokens on Base L2, traditional financial giants voted with real money-Ethereum has officially advanced to the financial infrastructure.
The most critical change happens whenThe field of store of value.More than 33 million ETHs were pledged (accounting for about 26% of the circulation), and combined with the combustion mechanism of EIP-1559, a deflation spiral was formed, and its annual inflation rate was compressed to below 1.5%, even lower than the gold mining speed.This digital scarcity is particularly precious when fiat currency continues to dilute its purchasing power due to policies such as the “Big and US Act”.
Third and four major engines ignite the explosion of Ethereum’s value
The fundamentals that promote Ethereum at present form a solid value support network:
Engine 1: “On-chain Treasury Debt” in the corporate treasury
The latest data shows that the ETH reserves in the listed companies’ treasury have exceeded 730,000, and The Ether Machine even plans to go public through a backdoor listing with 400,000 ETH. These companies regard ETH as a strategic reserve asset for interest-bearing, just like the state holds gold reserves.
Engine 2: ETF opens the mechanism faucet
Since the spot ETF was approved in July 2024, the net inflow of institutional funds has reached US$4.2 billion.What’s even more shocking is that Ethereum ETF has been inflowing funds for seven consecutive days, surpassing Bitcoin ETFs.Once the valve of traditional finance is opened, the torrent of funds will be unstoppable.
Engine 3: RWA becomes value anchor point
Real-world asset tokenization is creating a $16 trillion market.More than 70% of the current total on-chain RWA issuance occurs on Ethereum and its Layer2 network.When industry giants such as BlackRock and Franklin Templeton chose Ethereum to issue tokenized funds, their status as the “financial layer” has been solid.
Engine 4: Technology upgrade to reduce costs and increase efficiency
The Pectra upgrade in May 2025 is like replacing Ethereum with a new engine: smart contract efficiency is improved, Layer2 transaction costs have dropped sharply, and the Gas fee problem that once plagued developers is being resolved by modular architecture and L2 solutions.
4. Two heroes compete for hegemony, a new order in the public chain battlefield
When Solana attracted Meme coins to a craze with cheap transaction fees (BONK has a market capitalization of over $2.6 billion), some people began to question Ethereum’s dominance.But in-depth observation will reveal that the two public chains are differentiating into completely different ecological niches:
–Ethereum = Financial Center: occupies an absolute share of 61% of the total deFi locked amount (TVL) on the entire network, becoming a “safety safe” for high-value assets issuance
– Solana = Consumer Paradise: Supports high-frequency trading scenarios with extreme speed and low fees, becoming a “traffic amusement park” for Meme coins and social applications
Grayscale continues to increase its holdings of ETH as an ETF reserve, but Jump Trading has made a large-scale layout of SOL ecological coins – capital uses real money and silver to vote for a “dual track system” pattern.This is like the serious investment banks on Wall Street and the noisy billboards in Times Square, each with its own value.
But when I saw that the monthly active users of Ethereum developers were stable at 50,000 (4 times that of Solana), I understood:The gathering place for innovative talents is the real moat of blockchain.
For ordinary people, my observation framework is:
Risk buffer pad: Experts predict a possible retreat to $1,940 in 2025, ensuring you can withstand more than 30% of volatility
Value yardstick: Pay attention to the on-chain stablecoin reserves (currently $131 billion, doubled from a few months ago) and ETH market capitalization ratio. The 3.4-fold indicator shows that ETH may be undervalued
Time leverage: If you believe in the long-term forecast of US$10,882 in 2030 and US$22,374 in 2035, short-term fluctuations are just waves
The roadmap of crypto analyst Wolf is the most practical value: “After breaking through the historical high, there will be a 20-25% pullback, which is the last opportunity to buy at the bottom.”Real opportunities are often hidden in the pit of panic among the crowd.
I think of the words of God V ten years ago: “What we are building is not tools, but infrastructure for the new economy.”Turning back, I saw several investment banking elites in suits and tie heatedly discussing the ETH pledge yield curve – at this moment, idealism finally came to reality.
In the past decade, Ethereum has transformed from a geek toy into an institutional vault. When listed companies write ETH into the balance sheet, and when Fed directors begin to quote Ethereum white paper, the results of this social experiment have become clear.
If you believe that the digital world will eventually reconstruct reality – then Ethereum is the infrastructure maniac who holds the blueprint.
