A Ten-Year Journey of Ethereum: Revolutionizing Finance Sector
Ethereum, a programmable blockchain platform co-founded by Vitalik Buterin in 2013, has evolved into the second-largest blockchain by market capitalization. Originally conceived as a response to Bitcoin's limited capabilities, Ethereum aimed to be a decentralized "World Computer" enabling programmable smart contracts.
The journey of Ethereum began with a whitepaper in 2013, followed by the launch of its mainnet in July 2015, called "Frontier." The foundation of Ethereum was laid by a team of co-founders, including Gavin Wood, Charles Hoskinson, Joseph Lubin, Anthony Di Iorio, Jeffrey Wilcke, Mihai Alisie, and Amir Chetrit.
In 2016, Ethereum faced a significant challenge with the DAO hack, which led to a contentious hard fork to reclaim stolen funds. This event set governance precedents and tested community resilience. Despite this setback, Ethereum saw a rapid influx of developers creating decentralized applications (dApps), decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols, and tokens, growing the ecosystem broadly and making smart contracts a universal "operating system" for Web3 applications.
Ethereum underwent continuous upgrades to improve scalability, functionality, and security. The landmark "Merge" in September 2022 replaced its energy-intensive Proof-of-Work consensus with Proof-of-Stake, reducing energy consumption by over 99% and enhancing sustainability.
The SEC's approval of spot Ethereum ETFs in 2024 and 2025 marked greater regulatory clarity and enabled broader institutional and retail investment. Traditional financial firms began allocating ETH to strategic reserves, reflecting growing mainstream acceptance.
As of 2025, Ethereum sustains a vibrant network with use cases in tokenization, stablecoins, and yield-earning vaults, reaching price rebounds near $3,800. Ethereum remains the backbone of DeFi, NFT markets, and layer-2 innovation.
A key milestone in Ethereum's growth was the passage of the GENIUS Act by the US Senate in June 2025. This act establishes a regulatory framework for US-pegged stablecoins and defines "payment stablecoins" as a new category of digital cash, benefiting Ethereum significantly. Following the Senate's approval, ETH jumped over 25% in two weeks, briefly reaching US$3,824 and outperforming Bitcoin. The legal recognition of stablecoins has given institutional players more confidence to engage with Ethereum-based infrastructure.
Ethereum's long-term vision includes greater privacy features, zero-knowledge proofs for secure scalability, and expanding the reach of dApps to a billion users. Several US banks are also piloting internal payment rails using tokenized dollars on Ethereum rollups.
Remarkably, Ethereum's first major price rally came during the 2017 crypto bull run, when ETH surged to a then-record high of around US$1,400 by January 2018. Ethereum's development progressed from a 2013 whitepaper to launching its mainnet in July 2015, positioning it as a fundamental pillar of the blockchain industry and digital economy.
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[3] Ethereum.org. (2021). The Merge. [online] Available at: https://ethereum.org/en/upgrades/merge/
[4] Coindesk. (2021). Ethereum's London hard fork explained. [online] Available at: https://www.coindesk.com/learn/ethereum/london-hard-fork/
[1] Technology advances in finance continue to shape the future, with blockchain investing becoming a key focus. One of the most significant platforms in this space is Ethereum, a programmable blockchain that has grown exponentially since its inception.
[2] As Ethereum matures, it offers numerous opportunities for individuals and institutions to invest, leveraging its decentralized capabilities and finance-oriented technology. With continuous upgrades and increasing regulatory acceptance, Ethereum stands poised to be a cornerstone of the digital economy.
