Through The Lens: 5 Most Significant Events In Ethereum’s History

There are now more than 10,000 cryptocurrencies available, many of which have become household names over the past decade, such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. Though fundamentally different, both have dramatically altered digital finance via blockchain technology, a distributed ledger that allows for secure, transparent record-keeping. Ethereum has the potential for a big increase in adoption across various sectors, and those already invested are likely to diversify into the newly approved spot ETFs, which provide exposure to the cryptocurrency within a regulated framework. Still, it’s useful to learn how to buy ETH.

Vitalik Buterin’s vision was to create a world supercomputer, that is, a decentralized platform that automatically executes smart contracts, eliminating the need for intermediaries such as banks. Ethereum is intended to be so much more than a means of exchange or a unit of account. It’s a programmable blockchain that accommodates decentralized applications, including those for web browsing, gaming, and social media. Ethereum’s history is marked by great events that have left a clear mark on the cryptocurrency community, so let’s explore every significant development.

1. Vitalik Buterin Devised The Concept Of Ethereum In 2013 At The Age Of 19

In 2013, Vitalik Buterin published a whitepaper depicting Ethereum as “a next-generation smart contract and decentralized application platform.” According to the Russian-Canadian programmer, Bitcoin needed a scripting language for application development, and for months, he traveled around the world to meet with developers. Buterin soon realized he could develop a new platform, a potentially better one. In 2014, at the North American Bitcoin Conference in Miami, Buterin, now one of the most influential figures in the blockchain space, introduced Ethereum publicly.

The idea of Ethereum attracted many developers, of which mention can be made of Gavin Wood, who published the infamous “yellow paper,” essentially a formal definition of the protocol. Gavin currently leads innovation with Polkadot, both a token that can be bought and sold on exchanges and a decentralized protocol, and Substrate, a blockchain development framework used by Cardano, Mandala, and Polygon. Buterin’s achievements with Ethereum make him a leader in the world of cryptocurrency, building and shaping a better future.

2. In 2014, The 8 Co-Founders Gathered To Incorporate Ethereum As A Company

If you weren’t at the Red Wedding, you certainly missed out on a lot. As Camilla Russo recalls in her book, The Infinite Machine, the founders of Ethereum came together in Zug, Switzerland, earlier that year to sign a document that would transform Ethereum into a for-profit company. However, Buterin wanted to shape Ethereum into a non-profit foundation. Tensions reached a boiling point and Charles Hoskinson, along with Amit Chetrit, left the team. The Ethereum Foundation was created to support and fund the development of adjacent technologies.

3. In 2016, An Anonymous Hacker Exploited A Vulnerability In The DAO Code

The decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) was launched on the Ethereum blockchain in 2016 after raising $150 million worth of ETH through a token sale. Its smart contract was written in Solidity, Ethereum’s primary programming language, only a few months old, so the project wasn’t carefully tested, growing faster than creators had anticipated. A threat actor took advantage of a bug in the DAO code, namely the contract’s withdraw function, to steal 3.6 million ETH. Buterin, even if not personally involved with the DAO, suggested a soft fork to the Ethereum blockchain.  

4. Ethereum Transitioned To The Proof Of Stake Consensus In 2022

For many cryptocurrency enthusiasts, it was one of the most anticipated events of the year. The Ethereum blockchain executed the Merge in September 2022, when the Mainnet fused with the Beacon Chain, introducing Proof of Stake to verify new transactions. The Merge was a precursor to scaling solutions like sharding, which entails the allocation of additional nodes or computers to share the workload. Until 2022, Ethereum operated on Proof of Work, where validation is done by a network of miners who use lots of energy and computational power.

By some estimates, Ethereum’s transition to the Proof of Stake consensus algorithm will reduce energy consumption by roughly 99 percent. The lack of reporting on Ethereum’s annual electricity consumption and carbon emissions makes it hard, if not impossible, to tell the truth, but it’s clear the focus is on sustainability. The Merge took a long time to complete because it required the development of a new blockchain to coordinate how transactions are validated and blocks are created. The Beacon Chain is the backbone of Ethereum 2.0 – it establishes new parameters for governance, validator operations, staking rewards, and so on.

5. Implemented In 2024, The Dencun Upgrade Is The Most Important Event Since The Merge

Since its launch, Ethereum has experienced many changes, of which the Dencun upgrade is the biggest. Completed in March this year, it includes 9 Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) that boost network scalability, reduce transaction fees, and supercharge security, to name a few, benefiting both users and developers. EIP-4844 introduces proto-dank sharding that lowers costs for Layer-2 scaling solutions, especially when using NFTs and DeFi services. Transactions are bundled off-chain in batches and submitted to Ethereum, just like in the case of Arbitrum. As far as developers are concerned, they can build and deploy DApps faster.

Wrapping It Up

As opposed to Bitcoin, the founders of Ethereum didn’t conceal their identities, so it’s possible to trace the origins of the blockchain without difficulty. Vitalik Buterin and his team, which included the likes of Gavin Wood and Charles Hoskinson, created a Turing-complete programming language to deploy smart contracts, which would allow DApps to be built, and what unfolded was a chain of events no one could have imagined. Scaling solutions have been gaining traction, and Layer-2s like Arbitrum, Optimism, and Metis, but let’s not forget about zero-knowledge proofs and optimistic rollups.

Even if countless competitors exist, Ethereum dominates the altcoin space, second only to Bitcoin. There’s no way of knowing how it might evolve, but what’s certain is that Ethereum will impact cryptocurrency’s future, advancing the broader blockchain industry. Its potential growth is potentially limitless.

(Disclaimer: Devdiscourse's journalists were not involved in the production of this article. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of Devdiscourse and Devdiscourse does not claim any responsibility for the same.)