Ethereum milestones: a timeline of major network upgrades

Ethereum has come a long way since launching in 2015. Over the past decade, it has evolved from an ambitious smart contract platform into one of the most widely used networks in the digital asset ecosystem. It is used across decentralized finance, tokenization, stablecoins, on-chain applications, and developer activity.

Ethereum has also changed significantly at the protocol level. The network transitioned to proof of stake following The Merge in late 2022, enabled staked ETH withdrawals with Shapella in early 2023, introduced blob transactions through Dencun in March 2024, activated Pectra in mid-2025, and completed the Fusaka upgrade in December 2025. Those upgrades were designed to improve Ethereum’s sustainability, staking functionality, scalability path, data availability, and user experience.

Here is a timeline of major Ethereum milestones and why they matter.
 

Ethereum launched in 2015 and introduced a blockchain designed for smart contracts and programmable applications. Ethereum remains one of the largest and most widely used smart contract platforms, and it supports many on-chain applications. Ethereum supports use cases including decentralized applications, token issuance, stablecoins, digital collectibles, and tokenized real-world assets. Ethereum has also remained one of the largest crypto assets by market capitalization for many years.
 

Ethereum’s move to proof of stake was a major Ethereum protocol upgrade . The Merge replaced proof-of-work mining with proof of stake on September 15, 2022. It reshaped how Ethereum secures the network and marked a major milestone in its roadmap. The upgrade also removed proof-of-work mining from Ethereum’s mainnet and changed how new blocks are validated.
 

Shapella went live on April 12, 2023 and enabled validators to withdraw staked ETH and rewards. Shapella later enabled validator withdrawals, allowing validators to withdraw staked ETH and rewards under protocol rules.

Ethereum has continued to improve its scalability roadmap. Dencun introduced proto-danksharding and blob transactions in March 2024, a major change designed to reduce data costs for layer-2 networks. Blobs have helped reduce layer-1 data costs for layer 2s, although fees can still vary depending on network demand and broader market conditions.

Ethereum is still evolving. Pectra went live on May 7, 2025 and brought improvements across Ethereum’s execution and consensus layers. Continued progress on account abstraction remains ongoing, which aims to make wallets and on-chain interactions easier and more flexible for users and developers. That kind of ongoing protocol development is one reason Ethereum development continues to receive market and developer attention.

Fusaka activated on Dec. 3, 2025 and continued Ethereum’s scaling-focused roadmap. The upgrade introduced PeerDAS, short for Peer-to-Peer Data Availability Sampling, and Blob Parameter Only forks, which were designed to help Ethereum adapt blob capacity for layer-2 scaling needs.

Ethereum’s role is not limited to ETH as an asset. The network is a key part of decentralized finance and represents a settlement and application layer for a growing set of crypto and tokenized financial use cases. As of April 2026, there are more than $55 billion in value locked in DeFi, along with high transactional activity across Ethereum mainnet and layer-2 networks.