Backed by EthCC, Protocol Guild, and Shutter Network, the initiative honors Ethereum’s cultural legacy while supporting core development through charitable donations.
To celebrate the 10th anniversary of Ethereum’s genesis block, members of the Ethereum community have launched a unique blockchain “time capsule” project. The initiative, supported by EthCC (Ethereum Community Conference), the Protocol Guild, and Shutter Network, allows users to encrypt and store digital memories onchain for posterity, only to be unveiled a year later, on the network’s 11th anniversary.
The Ethereum genesis block was mined on July 30, 2015, marking the official birth of the now second-largest blockchain by market cap. As the milestone date approaches, the time capsule offers a creative and symbolic way to reflect on Ethereum’s evolution and the shared journey of its global community.
Revealed at EthCC in Paris, the time capsule invites participants to submit personal messages, digital art, predictions, or meaningful memories, all of which will be sealed using Shutter Network’s threshold encryption technology.
Each submission costs just $2.50 in ETH, and all proceeds will be donated to the Protocol Guild, a collective funding core Ethereum contributors and researchers.
The capsule will remain sealed for a full year. On July 30, 2026, exactly 11 years after the genesis block, the smart contract will automatically decrypt and permanently store the submissions on Ethereum’s blockchain. This ensures both the privacy of participants until the reveal and the immutability of their contributions once recorded.
Celebrating our history nurtures Ethereum’s culture and values,
said Jérôme de Tychey, president of Ethereum-France and founder of EthCC.
Protocol Guild contributor known as “Cheeky Gorilla” added, “This is a moment to reflect on our progress as we gear up for the next decade of innovation.”
Ethereum’s journey began in 2013 when co-founder Vitalik Buterin published the Ethereum whitepaper, proposing a decentralized platform that went beyond Bitcoin’s monetary functions. It envisioned a programmable blockchain capable of hosting smart contracts and decentralized applications (dApps).
After a successful token sale, Ethereum officially launched in July 2015. Today, it powers a vast ecosystem of DeFi, NFTs, DAOs, and enterprise applications, with a market capitalization nearing $300 billion.
The blockchain time capsule isn’t just a nostalgic tribute — it also represents Ethereum’s ethos of transparency, decentralization, and community-driven innovation. By capturing the voices and creativity of its users, the project turns Ethereum’s 10th birthday into a shared cultural milestone.
With the time capsule, the project continues to highlight its unique place in Web3 history — not just as a technological platform, but as a movement shaped by its diverse and passionate global community.
