Crypto Timeline
Key protocol upgrades and regulatory milestones that shaped cryptocurrency — with sources.
- Jul 18, 2025Regulatory
US enacts the GENIUS Act (federal stablecoin law)
The United States enacts the GENIUS Act, its first federal law creating a licensing, reserve, and disclosure framework for payment stablecoins — a major step toward mainstream regulatory clarity for dollar-pegged tokens.
- May 7, 2025Protocol
Ethereum Pectra upgrade
Ethereum's Pectra upgrade (Prague + Electra) bundles eleven EIPs, adding account-abstraction features to ordinary wallets, raising the validator staking limit, and expanding data capacity for Layer-2 rollups.
- Mar 21, 2025Regulatory
US Treasury delists Tornado Cash
Following a court ruling, the US Treasury removes Tornado Cash's smart contracts from the sanctions list — a landmark reversal on whether immutable, autonomous code can be sanctioned. Individuals connected to the protocol remained subject to separate legal action.
- Dec 30, 2024Regulatory
EU's MiCA becomes fully applicable
MiCA becomes fully applicable across the EU: crypto-asset service providers must be authorized to operate and can passport across member states, completing the regulation's phased rollout.
- Jul 23, 2024Regulatory
First US spot Ether ETFs begin trading
The first US spot Ether exchange-traded funds begin trading, extending regulated ETF access from Bitcoin to the second-largest cryptocurrency.
- Jun 30, 2024Regulatory
MiCA stablecoin rules take effect in the EU
MiCA's rules for stablecoins (asset-referenced tokens and e-money tokens) take effect across the EU, imposing reserve, licensing, and disclosure requirements on issuers.
- Mar 13, 2024Protocol
Ethereum Dencun upgrade (blobs / EIP-4844)
The Dencun upgrade introduces EIP-4844 ('proto-danksharding'), a dedicated low-cost data space ('blobs') for Layer-2 rollups that sharply reduces transaction fees on networks such as Arbitrum, Optimism, and Base.
- Jan 10, 2024Regulatory
US SEC approves the first spot Bitcoin ETFs
The US SEC approves the first spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds, letting ordinary investors gain Bitcoin exposure through a regular brokerage account. Trading began the following day.
- Jun 29, 2023Regulatory
EU's MiCA regulation enters into force
The EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) enters into force — the first comprehensive, region-wide crypto framework in a major economy — beginning a phased rollout of stablecoin and service-provider rules.
- Jun 6, 2023Regulatory
US SEC sues Binance and Coinbase
The US SEC files back-to-back lawsuits against Binance and Coinbase, alleging they operated as unregistered securities exchanges — the peak of a broad US enforcement push against major crypto firms.
- Apr 12, 2023Protocol
Ethereum Shapella upgrade (staking withdrawals)
The Shanghai/Capella ('Shapella') upgrade finally lets validators withdraw staked ETH, completing the proof-of-stake transition begun by the Beacon Chain and The Merge.
- Sep 15, 2022Protocol
Ethereum completes The Merge (proof-of-stake)
Ethereum completes 'The Merge', switching from proof-of-work mining to proof-of-stake and cutting the network's energy use by an estimated 99.9%.
- Aug 8, 2022Regulatory
US sanctions the Tornado Cash protocol
The US Treasury's OFAC sanctions the Tornado Cash mixing protocol — the first time a piece of autonomous, on-chain software (rather than a person or company) was added to the sanctions list, igniting a debate over code and free speech.
- Nov 14, 2021Protocol
Bitcoin activates Taproot
Bitcoin activates Taproot, its most significant upgrade in years, adding Schnorr signatures to improve privacy and efficiency and to better support complex, multi-signature transactions.
- Sep 24, 2021Regulatory
China bans all cryptocurrency transactions
China's central bank declares all cryptocurrency transactions illegal, extending years of tightening rules into a comprehensive ban on crypto trading and mining.
- Sep 7, 2021Regulatory
El Salvador adopts Bitcoin as legal tender
El Salvador becomes the first country to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender, requiring many businesses to accept it alongside the US dollar.
- Aug 5, 2021Protocol
Ethereum London upgrade (EIP-1559 fee burn)
The London upgrade activates EIP-1559, which reworks Ethereum's fee market and burns a portion of every transaction fee — making ETH partially deflationary during periods of high demand.
- Dec 1, 2020Protocol
Ethereum Beacon Chain launches
Ethereum launches the Beacon Chain, a parallel proof-of-stake chain that begins accepting validator deposits — the first step in Ethereum's multi-year move away from proof-of-work.
- Dec 18, 2017Regulatory
CME launches regulated Bitcoin futures
The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) lists regulated Bitcoin futures, giving institutions a mainstream, regulated way to gain Bitcoin exposure and marking an early step toward Wall Street adoption.
- Jul 20, 2016Protocol
Ethereum's DAO fork splits the chain
After an attacker drained tens of millions of dollars from 'The DAO', the Ethereum community executed a contentious hard fork to reverse the theft — splitting the network into Ethereum (ETH) and Ethereum Classic (ETC).
- Jul 30, 2015Protocol
Ethereum mainnet launches (Frontier)
Ethereum's mainnet goes live with the 'Frontier' release, introducing a general-purpose, programmable blockchain capable of running smart contracts.
- Jan 3, 2009Protocol
Bitcoin's genesis block is mined
Satoshi Nakamoto mines Bitcoin's first block — the 'genesis block' — launching the first decentralized cryptocurrency network. The block famously embeds a Times headline about bank bailouts.
This timeline covers a selection of milestones on Bitcoin, Ethereum, and major regulatory developments — it is not exhaustive. Educational reference only, not investment or legal advice.