In July 2015, the Ethereum blockchain was launched by Vitalik Buterin and his team of co-founders. With its native cryptocurrency Ether (ETH) and smart contract functionality, Ethereum aimed to become a decentralized world computer that could execute peer-to-peer agreements and applications.

Over the past eight years, Ethereum has cemented itself as the leading smart contract platform, enabling a new wave of decentralized applications across finance, gaming, collectibles and more. It’s also established itself as the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, behind only Bitcoin in terms of importance.

To celebrate eight years of Ether, let’s take a walk down memory chain and revisit some of king of altcoins’ major milestones along the way.

The Origins of Ethereum

Ethereum was first proposed in late 2013 by programmer Vitalik Buterin, then just 19 years old. Buterin envisioned it as a blockchain-based computing platform that could execute decentralized applications and smart contracts. It was announced in January 2014 at the North American Bitcoin Conference in Miami.

In 2014, Buterin partnered with other co-founders including Gavin Wood, Jeffrey Wilcke, Charles Hoskinson, and Anthony Di Iorio to start developing Ethereum. The non-profit Ethereum Foundation was created in Switzerland to oversee open-source development. The Genesis block launched and went live on July 30, 2015. At launch, the initial Ether supply was 72 million coins, with an initial price around $0.311 per ETH. Since then, it has become the leading smart contract blockchain platform and the second largest cryptocurrency after Bitcoin.

The ICO Boom of 2017

In 2017, Ethereum became the platform of choice for launching initial coin offerings (ICOs) – a novel way for crypto startups to crowdfund by selling tokens. That year saw over $6 billion raised through ICOs as investors rushed to fund emerging blockchain projects.

However, lack of regulation around ICOs led to many sham offerings, eventually leading to a partial collapse of the ICO market. Nevertheless, Ethereum provided the fundamental infrastructure that enabled the ICO mania and funded many legitimate projects in the space.

The Rise of Decentralized Finance (DeFi)

Starting in 2018, Ethereum became the foundation for the emerging DeFi – an alternative financial system built on blockchain technology and decentralized networks rather than centralized intermediaries.

DeFi protocols like MakerDAO, Aave, Compound and Uniswap utilize Ethereum’s smart contracts to recreate traditional financial instruments like loans, savings accounts and exchanges in a transparent, global and permissionless way.

The growth of DeFi has been astounding, with over $20 billion worth of assets locked into Ethereum DeFi protocols today. DeFi has expanded the utility of Ethereum and showcased the potential of decentralized applications.

NFTs Take Off

In 2017, the ERC-721 standard was proposed as a way to create unique, blockchain-based non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on Ethereum. But NFTs saw mainstream breakout only in 2021, as Ethereum NFT marketplaces like OpenSea, Rarible, and SuperRare hosted multi-million dollar sales of digital art and collectibles.

NFTs represented a new application for Ethereum – helping digital creators monetize their work through scarcity and proof of ownership on the blockchain. While NFTs have received their share of criticism, they undeniably expanded the cryptocurrency’s appeal to new demographics in art, gaming and pop culture.

The Merge: Transition to Proof-of-Stake

In September 2022, Ethereum completed its much-awaited Merge upgrade, transitioning from energy-intensive proof-of-work consensus to the greener and scalable proof-of-stake consensus mechanism.

This monumental technological shift promises to make Ethereum more sustainable and ready for further upgrades like sharding. While the Merge doesn’t automatically reduce gas fees, it lays the foundation for the blockchain to keep pace with its growing adoption.

Looking Ahead: More Use Cases on the Horizon

Ethereum has come a long way from its inception as a “world computer” for decentralized applications. Even as Ethereum faces stiff competition from chains like Solana, there’s still tremendous potential for Ethereum to expand its capabilities.

Here are some emerging use cases that could drive adoption over the next few years:

• Decentralized identity and reputation systems that could replace online accounts, credentials and reduce spam.
• Decentralized data storage networks like Filecoin and Arweave for hosting internet content in a permissionless way.
• Decentralized cloud computing resources that could rival centralized cloud service providers.
• Internet of Things integration for automation and machine-to-machine transactions using oracles.
• Fully decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) with transparent governance and operations.
• Tokenization of assets like stocks, bonds, real estate and other contracts to enable fractional ownership and trading on blockchain.

After eight years of growth, Ethereum is no longer an experiment – but a battle-tested smart contract platform with a vibrant ecosystem. As Ethereum continues maturing, its decentralized vision could have profound implications for finance, technology and beyond over the next decade. The true capabilities of Web3 are still just beginning to take shape.

A full eight years later, #Ethereum is up over 598,000% from its ICO launch price of $0.31 per ETH pic.twitter.com/N0zvzWDXWl

— Tony “The Bull” (@tonythebullBTC) July 31, 2023

Shiba Inu always responds to a massive burn and whale activity with a price pump

This entire year has been a roller coaster ride for the crypto market, but it has created better opportunities for the Shiba Inu coin (SHIB). The last few months have not been the best time period for Shiba Inu as the token’s value has been rapidly descending in the last five months. A large part of the problem was tied to a decline in burning volume that has been fueling the recovery of SHIB on the market. Luckily, the situation is finally changing. Massive token burns, large-scale accumulation activity by whales, and the rampant development in the SHIB Metaverse have increased the likelihood of a potential Shiba Inu price rally.

SHIB Token Burn

Over the past 24 hours, the SHIB burn rate surged as nearly 65 million Shiba Inu tokens were removed from the circulating supply. Around half of this sum of meme crypto was burned by the “Shib Super Store” platform that uses an Amazon affiliate program.

According to prominent burn tracker Shibburn, since the morning of Dec. 19, the joint efforts of the Shib army helped the circulating SHIB supply shrink by a total of 66,065,238 meme coins. That was quite a rise of over 111% from the approximately 30 million SHIB burned a day before. The two largest transfers to dead-end wallets here were those carrying 32,314,923 and 21,537,303 Shiba Inu.

In the past hour, there have been a total of 3,850,000 $SHIB tokens burned and 2 transactions. #shibarmy

— Shibburn (@shibburn) December 21, 2022

SHIB Whales will Dictate

Very recently, the number of Shiba Inu holders who are committed to the cryptocurrency for the long term has passed a significant historical threshold.

According to crypto analysis firm IntoTheBlock, long-term holders make up a cohort that includes all Shiba Inu investors who have been holding onto their SHIB tokens for at least more than a year. Data shows, Shiba Inu has made exceptional progress in this area since the start of the year, with the proportion of holders increasing from just 1% to a staggering 55%.

The token has also re-emerged on the list of the ten largest assets held by Ethereum whales, according to the digital wallet tracker WhaleStats.

Growing SHIB Metaverse

The SHIB metaverse which released earlier this year has evolved from being just a virtual landscape. Apart from enabling SHIB holders to buy and sell plots of land, users can also start earning rewards by playing games on the metaverse.

ShibaSwap, a successful decentralized exchange that enables users to purchase, sell, and trade assets, including non-fungible tokens, is powered by Shiba Inu (SHIB), a cryptocurrency that powers its operation. The SHIBOSHI NFT project, a collection of 10,000 distinctive NFTs, is also located in the Shiba Inu (SHIB) ecosystem.

Blockchain games with Play-to-Earn (P2E) components and a new metaverse are also part of the Shiba Inu (SHIB) ecosystem. The ecosystem also features a cutting-edge rewards program that enables users to generate passive income through decentralized finance (DeFi).

Furthermore, the new venture also intends to hold Grand Prix competitions where participants from all over the world can participate and compete for cryptocurrency rewards.

Unification Foundation, the team of developers behind Shiba Inu’s [SHIB] Layer 2 solution, Shibarium, announced on 24 June that a public beta is planned for deployment in the third quarter of 2022.

Through a proposal published on 19 June, the Shiba Inu ecosystem asked community members to vote on whether or not to halt further minting of BONE tokens upon reaching 230 million tokens. 

Shibarium would use BONE as a transactional conduit as per the proposal. It would also be a cost necessary token on the Shibarium network. Furthermore, validators on the network would receive BONE tokens. Validator roles and sequences would require a safeguarding amount of 20 million BONE. The team also noted that the total number of BONE tokens would need to be capped to retain value. Hence, the proposal.  

In another announcement by the Shiba Inu ecosystem, members were informed that 97.88% of members voted in favor of halting all BONE farming upon reaching 230 million minted BONE token assets to save and secure the remaining 20 million minted token assets for Shibarium validators.

But what exactly is the purpose of the BONE token?

Vital to the success of the Shibarium

ShibaSwap, Shiba Inu’s decentralized exchange, was in need of a governance token that led to the inception of BONE. The token was developed to allow members to vote on proposals within the community. The proposal also states the BONE token “is set to become the ‘gas’ of the Shibarium protocol. This ‘gas’ will provide the necessary functionality to process/execute smart contracts and transactions.”

Shibarium protocol would use BONE to facilitate payment for transactions. Furthermore, validators on the protocol would be rewarded in BONE tokens. These tokens would be proportional to the initial amount of tokens staked by each validator. 

Price-performance since the launch

According to data from CoinGecko, after registering an all-time high of $15.50 on 7 July 2021, the price of BONE has taken a downturn. Exchanging hands at $0.477463 at press time, the token has declined by over 95% since touching its all-time high (ATH).

Ranked at #1,043 on CoinMarketCap’s ranking of crypto assets with the highest market capitalization, the BONE token stood with a market cap of $35,431,478 at the time of writing. 

Despite the launch of a Shib metaverse, the plethora of the tokens within the Shiba Inu ecosystem failed to post gains. For example, since the commencement of the public sale of lands on its Shiba metaverse with the LEASH tokens, the price of these tokens has plummeted by 62%. The SHIB token is also down 87% from its ATH of $0.00008845, which it saw eight months ago.

Apparently, opening up your fatherland to strangers to inhabit does not mean they are obligated to extend any good will towards you. Go and ask Shiba Inu.

On 23 April, Shiba Inu announced the commencement of the public sale of lands on its Shiba Metaverse. With the public sale, anyone interested would be allowed with their LEASH tokens to pick up the remaining lands on the Metaverse at a starting price of 0.02ETH.

However, despite this ongoing public sale being facilitated by Shiba Inu’s LEASH and SHIBOSHI tokens, holders continue to record losses.

The Bloodbath Continues

With an additional 10% decline in the last 24 hours, since the commencement of the public sale, the LEASH token has shed over 30% of its price. Standing at $677 at the time of writing, the token has lost 92% from an ATH of $8,983.59 recorded in May 2021.

Increased bearish movements was spotted on the price charts and remained since the public sale started. Despite being used to facilitate the public sale of lands on the Shiba Inu Metaverse, holders of the LEASH token continue to exit their positions.

Since public sale began 16 days ago, the RSI has maintained a position below the 50 neutral region and it continues to inch further downwards. The bears continue to push the RSI into the oversold region.

Money Flow Index (MFI), at the time of writing stood at 1.26 deeply in the oversold position. This suggested that despite the ongoing public sale, investors continue to distribute LEASH in their numbers.

More bad news

The SHIBOSHI token performed even more terribly since the commencement of the public sale. Recording a 53% decline in the past 24 hours, this token has declined by a cumulative of 28%. At the time of press, the token stood at $0.000000003148.

While it continues to remain unclear what the market capitalization for this token is, floaters of the project claim that the circulating supply of the token is 850,000,000,000 SHIBOSHI with a self-reported market cap of $2,676.

Metaverse ≠ High Price Actions

It is not out of the ordinary for the promise of owning a piece of a metaverse to drive up the price of a token. This was exemplified in the case of BAYC’s “Otherside” and the Apecoin. However, in some instances, this is not always the case.