$1,000 in Ethereum (ETH) 10 Years Ago? Here’s the Life-Changing Profit You’d Be Sitting On Today

Ethereum’s decade-long rollercoaster turned early believers into crypto millionaires—while Wall Street stuck to bonds.

The Bet That Would’ve Beaten Buffett

Forget blue-chip stocks. A four-figure ETH gamble in 2015 now dwarfs most traditional investments—even if you sold during the 2018 crash.

From Gas Fees to Generational Wealth

Smart contracts weren’t even a buzzword when ETH traded for pennies. Today? That $1,000 could’ve bought a beach house—or funded a DeFi empire.

Crypto’s Ultimate ‘What If’

HODLers laugh all the way to the bank. Paper hands? They’re still explaining ‘missed opportunities’ to their therapists. Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs now calls ETH ‘digital oil’—how’s that for irony?

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. 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.