Ethereum (ETH) is a decentralized blockchain platform that was created by Vitalik Buterin in 2013. The Ethereum network was officially launched on July 30, 2015, after a successful crowdfunding campaign that raised over $18 million in Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH).

In the early days of Ethereum, its value was relatively low, with the price of ETH hovering around $0.30 in early 2016. However, the price of ETH began to rise rapidly in early 2017, reaching a high of nearly $1,400 in December of that year.

The surge in Ethereum's price in 2017 was largely due to the growth of initial coin offerings (ICOs), which were built on the Ethereum blockchain. ICOs allowed startups to raise funds by selling their own tokens on the Ethereum network, which helped to increase demand for ETH.

However, the price of ETH experienced a significant decline in 2018, as the ICO market began to cool off and regulatory scrutiny increased. ETH fell from a high of nearly $1,400 in January 2018 to a low of around $80 in December of that year.

Since then, the price of ETH has seen several ups and downs, with significant increases and decreases in value. However, the overall trend has been upward, with ETH breaking its previous all-time high in early 2021 and reaching a new high of over $4,000 in May of that year.

Today, Ethereum is the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, with a market cap of over $300 billion. It is also one of the most widely used blockchain platforms, with a large number of decentralized applications (dapps) built on its network.