Ethereum marks its 11th birthday today, a milestone that highlights a year of striking contrasts. While the network has achieved record-breaking technical progress and institutional adoption, the native token ETH has endured a deeply bearish 12 months. At $1,920 on July 30, the token is down 49% over the past year and sits 61% below its all-time high of $4,946 set in August 2025.
The underlying blockchain, however, tells a different story. The gas limit has doubled in two years to 60 million, with rollups now handling approximately 95% of all transactions. On the anniversary morning, blocks were landing around 229 transactions each (roughly 21 per second on the base layer) at 55% capacity. Fees remain low: a plain ETH transfer costs about $0.20, an ERC-20 transfer $0.52, and a swap $3.79, according to Etherscan data.
Institutional engagement has accelerated. On Tuesday, Morgan Stanley launched the cheapest U.S. ether exchange-traded product with a 0.14% expense ratio, staking 50%–80% of assets and passing rewards to investors. BlackRock’s ETHB also began staking a portion of its spot ETH holdings—the asset manager’s first crypto fund to do so—under the safe harbor of Revenue Procedure 2025-31, which allows exchange-traded products to stake and distribute rewards without a separate tax event.
The development roadmap remains ambitious. Two upgrades—Glamsterdam and Hegotá—are scheduled for 2026, pursuing scaling, user experience, and base‑layer hardening. A target of over 100 million gas per block has been set, and post‑quantum readiness is now a cross‑protocol consideration. Community sentiment on social media has been overwhelmingly positive, with many viewing the anniversary as a catalyst for further innovation.
Behind the scenes, the Ethereum Foundation underwent significant turbulence. Approximately 54 staff members—close to 20% of its workforce—departed during the year, reorganizing into five operational clusters. High‑profile exits included researchers Carl Beek, Julian Ma, Barnabé Monnot, Tim Beiko, Trent Van Epps, and Josh Stark. Co‑executive director Tomasz Stańczak stepped down on February 13, and Hsiao‑Wei Wang resigned as co‑executive director and board member in June. Investor Ryan Berckmans attributed the departures to disagreements over sub‑strategies, not to any loss of confidence in the network. The board now comprises Vitalik Buterin, Patrick Storchenegger, and Aya Miyaguchi.
