Recently, I’ve been reviewing the development history of Ethereum, and only then do I truly understand why this project has gone from being mocked to becoming the cornerstone of the crypto world.

The story begins in 2014. A young Russian developer attended a conference in Hangzhou, generously distributing 5,000 ETH to attendees in an effort to share his vision. What happened next? Almost everyone dismissed him as a scammer. But you know what? Those 5,000 coins, initially sent out as waste, later skyrocketed to $150 million. That person is Vitalik Buterin, also known as V God.

Interestingly, V God’s inspiration came from a seemingly unrelated experience. At age 13, he was obsessed with World of Warcraft, especially loving the Warlock class. Until one game update, Blizzard removed his favorite skill. At that moment, V God realized that in centralized systems, players are always the weak ones. Later, he discovered Bitcoin but found its limitations significant, so he decided to create Ethereum.

At the end of 2013, V God published a white paper detailing how Ethereum could implement smart contracts on the blockchain. The paper caused a sensation in the Bitcoin community, and many people reached out to collaborate with him. In 2014, Ethereum launched a crowdfunding campaign, successfully raising 31,000 BTC.

What followed was even more dramatic. In 2016, the DAO project built on Ethereum was hacked, and 3.6 million ETH were stolen. To compensate the victims, V God and the Ethereum Foundation decided to perform a hard fork. However, some opposed this decision, insisting that code is law and should not be changed. As a result, Ethereum split into two chains: ETH and ETC.

2017 was a crazy year. With the crypto bull market, ETH prices soared, and GPU prices surged because ETH could only be mined with GPUs. At the same time, ICOs became the new way to raise funds, with almost every project raising money using Ethereum, including major projects like EOS and Quantum Chain. This frenzy continued until September 2017, when regulators stepped in to halt it.

But then came March 2020. The bear market combined with the Fed’s circuit breakers caused ETH to plummet from $1,500 to $87. Many people were stunned and started selling off. However, it was also during this period that DeFi exploded. In 2020, the total value locked in DeFi surpassed $10 billion, growing over 2000%. Projects like YFI even saw gains of up to a thousand times. Most of these DeFi projects are built on Ethereum, further driving ecosystem development.

2021 was another peak. ETH prices soared to $4,850, a 16,000-fold increase from the initial price. Virtual land and NFT projects became hot topics. Later, Ethereum completed its upgrade from PoW to PoS, and Layer 2 networks gradually matured. At this point, a new opportunity emerged—participating in testnets and earning airdrops once they go live. Many people made millions or even tens of millions of dollars this way.

Currently, as the Ethereum mainnet becomes congested, Layer 2 solutions are the new battleground. Projects like ARB, OP, ZKS, and STRK are competing, and the landscape will continue to evolve.

Honestly, the story of V God and Ethereum is like an epic. From being mocked to becoming the infrastructure of the crypto world, this project has experienced many ups and downs. ETH is now trading around $2,220, still room to reach its all-time high of $4,950. Whether you’re a newcomer or a veteran, you should pay close attention to the project’s development. It has already changed many lives, and the future stories are bound to be even more exciting.