Extra extra read ALL about it! Ethereum is officially turning 3 today, July 30, 2018. We are going to celebrate the benchmark by giving you a full-fledged review of all things Ethereum as we turn back the clock a bit and open up the curtains into the epic journey that is Ethereum. In just these 3 years the second biggest cryptocurrency in the world has changed the landscape of the crypto community forever. Even though it has just been 36 months since its inception, their timeline was marked with significant milestones and events and will always go down in history as a pioneering project no matter what the future holds.

Ethereum’s founder Vitalik Buterin has already become a global tech icon and is one of the most sought after leaders within the space along with many other co-founders stemming from this incredible platform. As one Ethereum Co-Founder and ConsenSys CEO Joseph Lubin put it, for a platform that has over 700 tokens and 1,100 dapps released within its ecosystem:

It was unprecedented, many people said that it [Ethereum] could not be done; many people said that it was stupid to do it, because the attack service would be so big and fuzzy. And it turned out to be a remarkable success, in my opinion.

Let us turn back the clock and look at the impressive journey of this revolutionary coin. But before we go there, what exactly is Ethereum?

Ethereum is an open-source public service that uses blockchain technology to facilitate smart contracts and cryptocurrency trading securely without a third party. There are two accounts available through Ethereum: externally owned accounts (controlled by private keys influenced by human users) and contract accounts. Ethereum allows developers to deploy all kinds of decentralized apps. Even though Bitcoin remains the most popular cryptocurrency, it’s Ethereum’s aggressive growth that has many speculating it will soon overtake Bitcoin in usage.

The Original Inception of the ‘Ether' Idea:

“I thought [those in the Bitcoin community] weren’t approaching the problem in the right way. I thought they were going after individual applications; they were trying to kind of explicitly support each [use case] in a sort of Swiss Army knife protocol.”

This thought by Vitalik was the core motivation that drove him to develop Bitcoin’s biggest rival.

Buterin was introduced and intrigued by blockchain technology when he got involved in Bitcoin as a 17-year-old programmer in 2011 and co-founded Bitcoin Magazine. He started to imagine a platform that went beyond the financial use cases allowed by Bitcoin and released a white paper in 2013 describing what would ultimately become Ethereum using a general scripting language.

Formal development of the Ethereum software project began in early 2014 through a Swiss company, Ethereum Switzerland GmbH (EthSuisse). Subsequently, a Swiss non-profit foundation, the Ethereum Foundation (Stiftung Ethereum), was created as well. Development was funded by an online public crowdsale during July–August 2014, with the participants buying the Ethereum value token (ether) with bitcoin. While there was early praise for the technical innovations of Ethereum, questions were also raised about its security and scalability.

This blog on Ethereum’s website marked the launch of Ethereum.

Timeline of Ethereum

Early 2013 : Vitalik Buterin first describes Ethereum on paper

: Vitalik Buterin first describes Ethereum on paper Late 2013 : Buterin proposes development of a new platform with a general scripting language

: Buterin proposes development of a new platform with a general scripting language Early 2014 : Swiss company EthSuisse develops the first Ethereum software

: Swiss company EthSuisse develops the first Ethereum software July 22, 2014 : Ethereum launches a public pre-sale of ETH.

: Ethereum launches a public pre-sale of ETH. September 2, 2014 : Pre-sale investors receive 60m ETH of which 12m is allocated to the dev team

: Pre-sale investors receive 60m ETH of which 12m is allocated to the dev team October 2014 : Ethereum protocol permits the creation of 5 ETH for every block mined

: Ethereum protocol permits the creation of 5 ETH for every block mined Late 2014 : Ethereum starts getting critics attention. Questions emerge about the security and scalability of Ether.

: Ethereum starts getting critics attention. Questions emerge about the security and scalability of Ether. May 2015 : Last prototype named Olympic released.

: Last prototype named Olympic released. July 30th 2015 : Frontier, the first version of Ethereum is launched.

: Frontier, the first version of Ethereum is launched. March 14th 2016 : Homestead, the first stable version of Ethereum was launched

: Homestead, the first stable version of Ethereum was launched May 2016 : DAO raises a record $150 million in crowd sale.

: DAO raises a record $150 million in crowd sale. June 18th 2016 : The DAO was hacked by an anonymous group, $50m stolen. The event sparks debate within the community.

: The DAO was hacked by an anonymous group, $50m stolen. The event sparks debate within the community. July 2, 2016 : As a result, less than a year after their launch, the network splits into two groups: Ethereum (ETH) and Ethereum Classic (ETC).

: As a result, less than a year after their launch, the network splits into two groups: Ethereum (ETH) and Ethereum Classic (ETC). July 28, 2016 : Ethereum foundation, developers, business partners, miners, and users of the ethereum ecosystem disassociate themselves with ETC

: Ethereum foundation, developers, business partners, miners, and users of the ethereum ecosystem disassociate themselves with ETC Feb 2017 : Ethereum reaches a market cap of 1 billion for the first time.

: Ethereum reaches a market cap of 1 billion for the first time. March 2017 : Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA) formed.

: Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA) formed. May 19, 2017 : The price of ETH crosses $100 mark for the first time.

: The price of ETH crosses $100 mark for the first time. June 2017 : Russia endorses Ethereum which crosses $400 mark as the result of the surge in momentum.

: Russia endorses Ethereum which crosses $400 mark as the result of the surge in momentum. October 16 2017 : “Metropolis Part 1: Byzantium”, the first part of the third version of the platform launched.

: “Metropolis Part 1: Byzantium”, the first part of the third version of the platform launched. December 2017 : The best month of cryptocurrency starts. Ethereum breaks the $800 mark.

: The best month of cryptocurrency starts. Ethereum breaks the $800 mark. January 14, 2018 : Highest valuation of the cryptocurrency reaches. Priced at $1,418, the daily trading volume approaches $10 billion while the market cap is at astronomical $135billion.

: Highest valuation of the cryptocurrency reaches. Priced at $1,418, the daily trading volume approaches $10 billion while the market cap is at astronomical $135billion. April 6, 2018 : The lowest point of 2018 reached. Price of the coin back under $400.

: The lowest point of 2018 reached. Price of the coin back under $400. May 2018 : Market bounces back. Ethereum crosses $800 mark again although daily trading volume is $3 billion.

: Market bounces back. Ethereum crosses $800 mark again although daily trading volume is $3 billion. July 30, 2018: Happy birthday Ethereum, ETH officially celebrates its third anniversary!

Major events in Ethereum’s timeline

Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA) : In March 2017, various blockchain start-ups, research groups, and Fortune 500 companies announced the creation of the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA) with 30 founding members. By May, the nonprofit organization had 116 enterprise members—including ConsenSys, CME Group, Cornell University's research group, Toyota Research Institute, Samsung SDS, Microsoft, Intel, J. P. Morgan, Cooley LLP, Merck KGaA, DTCC, Deloitte, Accenture, Banco Santander, BNY Mellon, ING, and National Bank of Canada. By July 2017, there were over 150 members in the alliance, including recent additions MasterCard, Cisco Systems, Sberbank, and Scotiabank.

: In March 2017, various blockchain start-ups, research groups, and Fortune 500 companies announced the creation of the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA) with 30 founding members. By May, the nonprofit organization had 116 enterprise members—including ConsenSys, CME Group, Cornell University's research group, Toyota Research Institute, Samsung SDS, Microsoft, Intel, J. P. Morgan, Cooley LLP, Merck KGaA, DTCC, Deloitte, Accenture, Banco Santander, BNY Mellon, ING, and National Bank of Canada. By July 2017, there were over 150 members in the alliance, including recent additions MasterCard, Cisco Systems, Sberbank, and Scotiabank. The DAO event: In 2016, $50 million in Ether was stolen by an anonymous hacker which resulted in questions about the platform’s security. The event sparked a debate in the crypto-community about whether Ethereum should perform a contentious “hard fork” to reappropriate the affected funds. As a result of the dispute, the network split in two. Ethereum continued on the forked blockchain, while Ethereum Classic continued on the original blockchain. The hard fork created a rivalry between the two networks. After the hard fork related to The DAO, Ethereum subsequently forked twice in the fourth quarter of 2016 to deal with other attacks. By the end of November 2016, Ethereum had increased its DDoS protection, de-bloated the blockchain, and thwarted further spam attacks by hackers.

Will Ethereum (ETH) Ever Outperform Bitcoin (BTC)?

Although bitcoin’s value has deceased over the past few months, its value is up overall since its pinnacle. Similarly, Ethereum is in the same situation – although its performance has been poor lately, its overall value is up since its inception. Further, investors are now questioning whether Ethereum will be able to outperform bitcoin based on the recent ERC20 lead token bubble the cryptocurrency market is currently experiencing.

Bitcoin was created to store worth and it has become an integral part of the blockchain. The resources are stashed as cryptographic forms of funds. As a result, many believe that Ethereum was produced as a stage for “brilliant contracts.” Further, Ether allows for transactions on Ethereum to take place and blockchain allows for dapps to exist.

When it comes to Ethereum, unlike bitcoin, it may be more difficult to understand. Ethereum is not based upon incentives in money, but upon providing others with a stage.

Although bitcoin and Ethereum have both increased in value since their release on the market, in many instances, the price increases were not justified because no key change occurred in either of their protocols.

According to Roger Ver, who has been dubbed “Bitcoin Jesus,” believes that both bitcoin and Ethereum will continue to increase in value in the coming months. Ver also describes a phenomenon known as “flipping” – which is when bitcoin is when bitcoin loses its title as the cryptocurrency with the most noteworthy market capitalization.

As for Ethereum, its most significant value was in 2017. It provides users with a decentralized handling stage and they can receive Ethereum by loaning handling power. Further, Ethereum miners stand to make significant gains as well. The media publicity supporting Ethereum may also help improve its value.

This time 3 years ago #Ethereum launched Those who invested in $ETH back then are currently at an #ROI of 1500x Yes, that's "X" not % Most projects me and you have invested in (2017 #ICO etc.) are still under a year old My point? Projects need time to mature! Be patient. — 🔸️ Đion. (@Di0nysos_) July 29, 2018

The future of Ethereum

The next part of the third version of Ethereum, Metropolis (Constantinople), is to be launched soon. The fourth version will be called “Serenity”, which might not be seen till Ethereum’s 4th birthday.

Ethreum has established itself to be at the centre of the crypto revolution with EVMs, Samrt Contracts, DApps, Enterprise Softwares, Permissioned ledgers, and more. Even though Ethereum's price in the short run can be only speculated right now, we know that in the future Ethereum will be a good investment.