Ethereum’s Decade of Innovation Sees Renewed Institutional Interest and ETF Momentum in 2025

Key Points

1. The 2016 DAO hack led to a $60 million loss and a hard fork, splitting the community and creating Ethereum Classic.

2. The 2017-2018 ICO boom, fueled by the ERC-20 standard, drove Ether's price to $1,450, while NFTs like CryptoKitties caused network congestion.

3. The 2020 DeFi summer saw protocols like MakerDAO and Uniswap push Ethereum's TVL above $1 billion, solidifying its role in decentralized finance.

4. The 2022 Merge transitioned Ethereum to proof-of-stake, improving energy efficiency and scalability.

5. 2024 saw the rise of Ethereum ETFs and layer-2 solutions like Arbitrum and Optimism, boosting institutional interest despite liquidity fragmentation.