Ethereum mainnet is turning 10 on July 30, and crypto community members across the globe plan to celebrate the monumental event.
For context, Ethereum (ETH) is the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. While this alone is impressive, Ethereum has accomplished important milestones over the past 10 years, making it the backbone of decentralized finance (DeFi).
Given Ethereum’s success, industry experts believe that there is much to celebrate this year.
Rick Johanson, founding partner and VP of Arbitrum Gaming Ventures, told Cryptonews that the word “celebrate” is in itself an important word.
“Two years ago, the technology climate was chaotic for the crypto industry, so the fact that the word ‘celebrate’ is being used this year means a lot,” Johanson said.
Ethereum Celebrations in the United States
Given the recent approval of positive crypto legislation in the United States, a number of U.S. cities will host events to honor Ethereum.
Jaime Leverton, CEO of digital asset management firm ReserveOne, told Cryptonews that ReserveOne has been invited by one of Nasdaq’s strategic partners to a private celebration for Ethereum’s 10-year milestone. The small gathering will take place during the Nasdaq closing bell on July 30.
“We’re honored to participate alongside other leading crypto and blockchain innovators as part of Nasdaq’s ongoing commitment to supporting digital asset companies,” Leverton said.
Leverton shared that ReserveOne will also join the Ethereum community in person at the “10 Years of Ethereum” event on July 30 in New York hosted by ETHGlobal and Blockchain Capital.
Nemil Dalal, head of Coinbase Developer Platform (CDP), also has plans to celebrate Ethereum in New York. Dalal told Cryptonews that CDP will be celebrating at Code NYC. The event takes place on August 9 and will feature a Coinbase Developer Platform hackathon centered around tools that make it easy to build on-chain.
“This is inspired by the way Ethereum made it easy to build smart contracts,” Dalal said. “For me personally, it’s also a moment of nostalgia.”
The ETHGlobal community is also hosting a public event in San Francisco, taking place from 4-10 p.m. PDT on July 30. Ethereum Austin is holding a meetup on July 30 as well, with pizza and drinks to discuss the future of Ethereum.
Leverton further said that throughout this week, ReserveOne will launch online programming.
“We will feature educational content, thought leadership, and community engagement to celebrate Ethereum’s impact to help grow the next generation of digital asset enthusiasts,” she said.
Ethereum Celebrations in Europe
While the crypto community in the U.S. has much to celebrate this year, a number of events will also take place across Europe.
Julia Deufel, global community lead at SheFi, told Cryptonews that the SheFi community will celebrate in Dublin, Ireland, during the “crypto céilí” event.
SheFi — which is a Web3 organization focused on education and women’s empowerment — will also announce the SheFi Dublin chapter, along with a new partnership with Coinbase’s layer-2 ecosystem, Base.
“There will be lightning talks from local founders and builders, live Irish music, and a chance for the community to reflect on Ethereum’s journey so far,” she said. “I will also host a miniature journaling session to reflect on the past 10 years, and how we’d like to shape the future of Ethereum together.”
Schor Lukas, co-founder of Web3 wallet Safe, told Cryptonews that he has plans to join the 10-year Ethereum anniversary meetup in Zug, Switzerland, which is also the birthplace of Ethereum.
“Switzerland has benefited greatly from the Ethereum Foundation being rooted there, and it’s great to see how this created ripple effects with many smart people moving to the ‘crypto valley,'” Lukas said.
ETHGlobal will host events in Berlin, Lisbon, Rome, and other crypto-friendly cities throughout Europe on July 30 this year.
The Importance of Ethereum’s 10-Year Anniversary
While celebrations across the globe indicate excitement around Ethereum, industry experts believe this year’s anniversary may be the most momentous.
For instance, Leverton pointed out that Ethereum’s 10-year milestone coincides with a transformative shift in U.S. crypto policy, setting it apart from previous years.
“We’re currently witnessing the first-ever federal legislation tailored to regulate stablecoins,” she said. “The law now requires stablecoin issuers to maintain sufficient reserves and disclose their holdings, aiming to protect consumers and enhance credibility in the $260 billion stablecoin market. This delivers a new level of clarity that many have been waiting for and sets the stage for future growth.”
Leverton elaborated that the GENIUS Act, which is paving the way for stablecoin development in the U.S., would not have been possible without Ethereum.
“Approximately 50% of all stablecoins operate on Ethereum today,” she noted.
Lukas further mentioned that the ten-year mark indicates the transition from experiment to infrastructure for Ethereum.
“When Ethereum launched, we asked: can smart contracts work? Today, they secure more value than the GDP of many nations. We’ve proven that code can be law, that global coordination can happen without permission, that money can be programmable,” he said.
Given this, Lukas believes that Ethereum’s 10-year anniversary stands as a powerful reminder of what’s possible when innovation, community, and open-source principles converge.
“The US Securities and Exchange Commission tried to attack Ethereum; we got ETFs instead. We’ve shipped EIP-1559, making ETH deflationary. Account abstraction is here. A decade of 100 percent uptime throughout wars, pandemics, and three crypto credit cycles is making Ethereum table‑stakes for institutional settlement,” Lukas said.
The Future of Ethereum
It’s also important to note that the future of Ethereum remains positive — but not without certain challenges.
For instance, Lukas said that Ethereum’s next chapter will focus primarily on becoming the world’s main settlement layer. He hopes to see major upgrades like proto-danksharding drastically lowering fees, along with better interoperability across rollups.
Yet one challenge to combat over time will be achieving full account abstraction by removing private keys via native smart contracts.
“If Ethereum is serious about onboarding the next billion users, we need to eliminate the dependency on static keys entirely,” Lukas said. “That means native support for smart accounts at the protocol level, no more single points of failure. Just programmable, secure, and recoverable accounts by default.”
Deufel also hopes to see more of a focus on usability, scalability, and real-world impact. Additionally, she mentioned that more collaboration between Web3 and traditional industries will likely evolve.
“The community is transforming from a niche group of developers into a diverse ecosystem of creators, entrepreneurs, and problem-solvers,” Deufel said.
