The Year in Ethereum: Lawsuits, ETFs, Technical Updates and Trump

b Ethereum2024 looks like a year where both a lot happened and not much happened.

There was a significant innovation, but those who want to make money by investing in Ethereum's native coin ETH They are a little disappointed – if the vibration is turned on Crypto Twitter (aka X) are things to go through.

Innovations like Denkun have made it cheaper to do things on the network, and President-elect Donald Trump has thrown his weight behind projects built on Ethereum. But there were also regulatory actions that led many to think the SEC was coming down hard on the ecosystem.

Surprisingly Approval place ETH exchange-traded funds It turned things around, but it didn't explode like it did in property prices. Bitcoin counterpart.

Even so, it was still an interesting and interesting year for the blockchain behind the second largest coin in crypto. Here's a look back at how it all went down.

Theft of control

In April, rumors He started shaking The SEC may come after Ethereum after the Ethereum Foundation announced that it is being investigated by a government agency.

Then, Wall Street's top regulator and one of the biggest names in the Ethereum space, software giant Consensus (disclosure: one of 22 investors in Decrypt) entered the fray.

In the case of the popular Ethereum wallet Metamask, it started when the SEC hit the company with a Welsh notice warning of impending lawsuits over security breaches. Communication in a Pre-made clothes on the SEC.

The agency said the regulator's action “punishes Consensys for accepting and implementing years of government assurances that ETH is not a security,” while the agency secretly considered ETH safe for more than a year.

Then SEC Consensys was sued I engage in the unregistered offering and sale of securities through the MetaMask Swaps and Staking services.

It was a conspiracy case. He was thrown Judge in September. Trump's win was both good and bad for the company: SEC approval Have a new pro-crypto chairman If Trump's choice Paul Atkins is confirmedBut Consensus had to cut its workforce by 20% in October. The company cited harsh regulations and lawsuits as part of the reason.

ETFs make an impact.

After the expected approval and the space's massive first months of trading for Bitcoin ETFs, industry observers don't think Ethereum will get the same green light—at least not right away—because the regulator remains unclear on whether the asset is safe. merchandise.

But in a surprising move, the SEC gave it a thumbs up. And two months after the initial approval, the spot ETFs began trading in July. But when the price of ETH did not rise, it seemed that desperation had set in.

The approval of Bitcoin ETFs pushed the price of Bitcoin to a new all-time high after its all-time high. ETH has not been so lucky: it has a huge gap to close until it breaks the 2021 record high of $4,878 at the time of writing.

While Ethereum's price hasn't skyrocketed, the ETF's approval did mark an important victory: The SEC stopped calling ETH a security.

Although earlier He is saying. As the property was in 2018 is not A security, outgoing SEC chairman Gary Gensler refused to answer on the whereabouts of the coin for years – and hit the crypto company after the crypto company with accusations that he was accused of selling unregistered securities.

But the ETF approval shows that the custodian essentially agrees that the asset is decentralized. This came with Wall Street's recognition of ETH and its blockchain as an asset class – despite traditional finance He had a difficult time Getting your head around Ethereum's value proposition.

Big names like BlackRock boss Larry Fink helped create some momentum. The CEO of Black Rock started the year He is saying. He saw “value” in the Ethereum ETF, and it was a stepping stone to “tokenization.”

Property manager in March kick off “BUIDL” – a token fund running on Ethereum – and later merged with its own space ETF.

Even Trump is building on ETH

President-elect Donald Trump campaigned hard before his victory to make America the “crypto capital of the planet.”

As part of his digital asset-focused agenda, he helped launch a project working on… you guessed it, Ethereum.

first They made fun of him Founded in August by his son Eric, World Freedom Finance is a decentralized finance project. Decentralized finance – or DeFi – is the cryptosphere that seeks to make borrowing or lending automated and simple through blockchain-based protocols.

Most of DeFi's projects are built on top of Ethereum, so it's no surprise that Trump's team went with the project, but still—it was big news for the community. The team behind the project said in an exclusive interview that WLF offers credit and loan crypto services Decrypt's Sister company, Rug Radio.

The project had started and had some progress. Slow token launch– It's only open to accredited investors – but it's still early days. Sources say Decrypt That group plans to launch a native stablecoin despite Trump's crowded market.

Layer-2s is taken over

On the technical side of things, Ethereum has become very cheap – very cheap. The network Upgrade your deck Reduced transaction costs on its Layer-2 networks. Such networks enable faster and cheaper transactions than the mainnet, and the addition of Denko's “proto-danksharding” technology has further streamlined costs for consumers.

The good news is. On the flip side, increased use of L2s has pushed prices away from layer-1 Ethereum, which some believe is responsible for Ethereum's bullish performance this year.

In fact, Matthew Siegel, head of research at VanEck Digital Assets, projected in October that the price of ETH would only hit $7,300 by 2030 unless Ethereum “changes the model” – as opposed to $22,000 in previous forecasts.

Layer-2 networks are “taking more value out of Ethereum” than previously expected, he said. Fortunately, Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin and others are considering changes in the space, such as payment-sharing models, which could provide more balance to the ecosystem so L2s can't overspend.

Edited by Stacy Elliott and Andrew Hayward.