Ethereum celebrated the 11th anniversary of its genesis block on July 30, capping off a year filled with major network upgrades, institutional adoption, and internal restructuring. Despite continued technological progress, its native token remains well below last year’s all-time high.
Today, Ethereum operates with a 60 million gas limit—double the capacity it had two years ago—while Layer-2 rollups now process roughly 95% of all network transactions.
On its anniversary, the blockchain was processing around 229 transactions per block, or nearly 21 transactions per second on the base layer, with network utilization at approximately 55%.
According to Etherscan data, the base fee hovered around 5.3 gwei, translating to transaction costs of roughly $0.20 for a standard ETH transfer, $0.52 for ERC-20 transfers, and about $3.79 for token swaps.
Scaling Advances and Institutional Adoption Continue
Ethereum’s scaling improvements have coincided with growing institutional interest.
Morgan Stanley recently launched the lowest-cost U.S. Ether exchange-traded product, charging a 0.14% expense ratio while staking between 50% and 80% of its ETH holdings and distributing staking rewards to investors.
BlackRock has also introduced staking within its spot Ethereum fund, making ETHB the firm’s first crypto investment product to generate staking rewards. Both offerings rely on Revenue Procedure 2025-31, which allows exchange-traded products to stake digital assets and distribute rewards without triggering separate tax consequences.
Looking ahead, Ethereum developers are preparing two major upgrades—Glamsterdam and Hegotá—scheduled for later this year.
The project’s 2026 roadmap focuses on three priorities: expanding network scalability, improving user experience, and strengthening the base protocol. Developers also aim to increase the gas limit beyond 100 million per block while incorporating post-quantum security considerations into future protocol development.
ETH Price Still Struggles
Despite the network’s technical progress, Ethereum’s price has endured a difficult year.
As of July 30, ETH was trading around $1,920, representing a 49% decline over the previous 12 months and leaving it approximately 61% below its all-time high of $4,946 reached in August 2025.
Ethereum’s market capitalization stood at roughly $231 billion across a circulating supply of 120.7 million ETH, maintaining its position as the second-largest cryptocurrency behind Bitcoin.
Ethereum Foundation Undergoes Major Leadership Changes
While the Ethereum ecosystem continued to expand, the Ethereum Foundation experienced significant organizational changes over the past year.
Approximately 54 employees—nearly one-fifth of the Foundation’s workforce—departed as the organization restructured into five core divisions focused on protocol development, accessibility, user experience, community and institutional engagement, as well as operations and management.
Longtime community member and investor Ryan Beckmans suggested the departures were largely driven by disagreements over strategic priorities rather than concerns about Ethereum’s long-term future.
Several prominent contributors, including Carl Beek, Julian Ma, Barnabé Monnot, Tim Beiko, Trent Van Epps, and Josh Stark, also left during the restructuring.
Leadership changes followed soon after. Tomas Stanczak stepped down as co-executive director in February, with Bastian Aue appointed interim co-executive director. The Foundation said Stanczak departed after making significant contributions to its mission and operations.
In June, Hsiao-Wei Wang also resigned as co-executive director and board member following her sabbatical. Her departure leaves Vitalik Buterin, Patrick Storchenegger, and Aya Miyaguchi as the remaining members of the Foundation’s board.#crypto#cryptonews https://coinsignals.net https://t.me/coinsignalpublic
