Ethereum: returns since 2017

Ethereum is the second-largest cryptocurrency and the first smart-contract platform, the layer underneath most tokens, DeFi and NFTs. Its price blends the speculative cycles common to crypto with a bet on whether the network gets adopted.

Our closing-price series runs from August 2017, in U.S. dollars. The year-by-year table shows how the result shifts depending on when you started.

Ethereum's defining moment came in September 2022, when "the Merge" switched the network from energy-hungry proof-of-work mining to proof-of-stake, cutting its electricity use by an estimated 99 percent overnight. It was a software upgrade to a live system carrying tens of billions of dollars, executed without a halt. The change also let holders earn staking rewards for helping secure the chain, a yield bitcoin does not offer, though that income lives outside the price series here and carries its own risks.

Descriptive, educational content computed from official public data. Not investment advice. Past performance does not guarantee future results.