If You'd Invested $1,000 in Ethereum (ETH) 10 Years Ago, Here's How Much You'd Have Today
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.
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?
Before you buy stock in Ethereum, consider this:
The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Ethereum wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.
Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $653,427!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $1,119,863!*
Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 1,060% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 182% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor.
See the 10 stocks »
*Stock Advisor returns as of August 4, 2025
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.
If You'd Invested $1,000 in Ethereum (ETH) 10 Years Ago, Here's How Much You'd Have Today was originally published by The Motley Fool
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