Ethereum celebrates its ninth anniversary on July 30, 2024, marking nearly a decade since its launch in 2015.

The network's launch was witnessed by early contributors, including Gavin Wood and Vlad Zamfir, in Berlin.

Since its inception, Ethereum has undergone significant upgrades, including the Merge and Dencun hard forks, transitioning to a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism and reducing transaction fees.

With over 1,000 projects on its blockchain and approximately $71 billion in assets locked, Ethereum has become a cornerstone of the decentralized space.

As Ethereum faces competition from other Layer 1 blockchains like Solana, maintaining market dominance is crucial for its future.

Blockchain technology, which underpins Ethereum, is a decentralized and secure data structure that prevents tampering through linked blocks.

Vitalik Buterin and his team introduced smart contracts via Ethereum, enabling the creation of decentralized applications (dApps) and facilitating advancements in various sectors.

Smart contracts on Ethereum self-execute based on pre-set conditions, significantly reducing human interference in transactions.

Despite the network's success, challenges remain, particularly in scalability, with a total value locked (TVL) of nearly $60 billion.

Ethereum is one of the few digital assets approved for trading by the US SEC through spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs), alongside Bitcoin.

Co-founder Vitalik Buterin expressed optimism for the future developments in Ethereum, highlighting the network's potential in the coming decade.