If You'd Invested $1,000 in Ethereum (ETH) 10 Years Ago, Here's How Much You'd Have Today

Key Points

• Ethereum's price has gone from under $3 to nearly $4,000 since 2015.

• It's the top blockchain in terms of developers and total value locked (TVL) into its protocols.

• Recent upgrades have improved Ethereum's efficiency and lowered transaction fees.

• 10 stocks we like better than Ethereum ›

The Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) blockchain went live 10 years ago. If you'd invested $1,000 in Ethereum at that time when it was trading at $2.79, you could have bought about 358 ETH tokens. Your investment would now be worth nearly $1.4 million at the time of this writing (Aug. 8).

Ethereum has gone through plenty of highs and lows over the last decade, and even just in 2025. While it's impossible to predict what will happen next, Ethereum looks like it could continue to do well.

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Image source: Getty Images.

The most popular blockchain is getting even better

Ethereum is the leading blockchain platform, and it's not a close race. It has the most full-time developers at 4,115, which is about 3,000 more than second-place Solana. It also has the most total value locked (TVL) into its protocols. Ethereum's TVL is currently about $87 billion, accounting for 60% of the total TVL for all blockchain platforms, according to DeFiLlama on Developer Report.

One of the biggest criticisms of Ethereum, despite its popularity, has been the technical superiority of its competitors. But Ethereum has made significant progress in this area.

In 2022, Ethereum upgraded from a cumbersome proof-of-work system to validate transactions to a more efficient proof-of-stake system. Its Duncan upgrade last year dropped gas fees (transaction fees) by 95%. In May 2025, Ethereum's Pectra upgrade increased the transaction capacity and improved network security.

The next major upgrade, Fusaka, is scheduled for November 2025. It's expected to make even more improvements to Ethereum's efficiency, including in its transaction validation process.

Looking ahead for Ethereum

There's a lot to like about Ethereum. It's already successful, institutional capital is flowing into Ethereum ETFs, and the development team is still working hard to make improvements. I wouldn't be surprised to see it outperform the market over the next decade.

Keep in mind that it's also possible Ethereum will lose value -- investing in any cryptocurrency is inherently risky. If you're going to invest in crypto, make sure it's a small part of a diversified portfolio.

Should you invest $1,000 in Ethereum right now?

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Lyle Daly has positions in Ethereum and Solana. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Ethereum and Solana. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.