Ethereum Celebrates Nine Years Since Mainnet Launch

Nine years have passed since the launch of the Ethereum mainnet and the creation of the genesis block. Developers and other network participants congratulated each other on this milestone. 

On July 30, 2015, former Ethereum Foundation CCO Stephan Tual announced the blockchain’s launch in a blog post.

“The vision of a censorship-proof ‘world computer’ that anyone can program, paying only for what they use and nothing more, has now become a reality,” the post stated. 

Over nine years, the Ethereum network has become one of the industry’s leading ecosystems, with its native coin being the second-largest crypto asset by market cap, valued at $403 billion. 

Happy 9th birthday, Ethereum!

Looking forward to seeing what the next decade brings. pic.twitter.com/bXq56mIff7

— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) July 30, 2024

“Happy 9th birthday, Ethereum! Looking forward to what the next decade will bring,” wrote blockchain co-founder Vitalik Buterin. 

Cryptocurrency exchange Kucoin joined in the celebrations, sending a “huge shoutout” to all ecosystem developers. 

? Huge shoutout to all the amazing devs in the #Ethereum ecosystem for everything you’ve built over the past 9 years!

Happy 9th Birthday, @ethereum! ? https://t.co/2VhxgC1WIv pic.twitter.com/UL49qsz5AV

— KuCoin (@kucoincom) July 30, 2024

Representatives from the trading platform HTX also congratulated the community on this significant date. 

?Happy 9th Birthday, #Ethereum! ? Celebrate with #HTX and here’s to many more years of innovation and success. ? pic.twitter.com/bOp8U2eu9a

— HTX Community (@HTXCommunity) July 30, 2024

Other community members and developers continue to post messages celebrating Ethereum’s birthday, including PWR Labs COO Arpit Sharma. 

GM..

Ethereum celebrates it’s 9th birthday today. Cheers!! pic.twitter.com/gJNnBPwJhf

— Arpit Sharma (@Arp_it1) July 30, 2024

Years Later 

Ethereum was created by a large team of developers, the most notable being Buterin, Charles Hoskinson, Gavin Wood, Joseph Lubin, and Anthony Di Iorio.

The platform became an integral part of the “ICO boom” in late 2017 and the “DeFi summer” in 2020. 

Since then, Ethereum has undergone numerous technical upgrades. Perhaps the most significant was The Merge, which changed the network’s consensus algorithm from Proof-of-Work to Proof-of-Stake.

The next major step was the Dencun hard fork, launched in March 2024, which reduced fees in second-layer networks. 

Ethereum is now preparing for the Pectra upgrade, scheduled for early 2025. This initiative combines the Prague and Electra updates, aimed at enhancing wallet capabilities and improving network efficiency.

The cryptocurrency ETH reached its all-time high on November 10, 2021, at $4870. At the time of writing, the asset is trading at $3340 — approximately 31.5% below its ATH.

Buterin described the next five years as “crucial” for Ethereum’s widespread adoption and its acceptance in the “real world.”