Ethereum turned 11 on July 30, and the numbers show a network that's scaled hard even as its token price lags. The gas limit has doubled from two years ago to 60 million. Rollups now handle roughly 95% of all transactions, leaving the base layer to process about 21 transactions per second across blocks averaging 229 transactions each. Base fee hovered near 5.3 gwei, putting a simple ETH transfer at $0.20, an ERC-20 transfer at $0.52, and a swap at $3.79.
Wall Street's cheapest ether ETP goes live
Morgan Stanley began trading the cheapest US ether ETP, charging a 0.14% expense ratio and staking 50-80% of its holdings. BlackRock's ETHB also holds spot ETH and stakes a portion — the firm's first crypto fund to do so. Both ETPs rely on IRS Revenue Procedure 2025-31 for a tax safe harbor on staking rewards.
Foundation shakeup: 54 departures, new clusters
The Ethereum Foundation saw about 54 departures — roughly 20% of its workforce — and reorganized into five clusters. Investor Ryan Berckmans attributed the exits to disagreements over sub-strategies, not a loss of confidence in the network itself. Among those who left during the same period: researchers Carl Beek, Julian Ma, Barnabé Monnot, Tim Beiko, Trent Van Epps, and Josh Stark. Tomasz Stańczak stepped down as co-executive director on February 13, with Bastian Aue named interim co-executive director. Hsiao-Wei Wang resigned as co-executive director and board member in June. The remaining board members are Vitalik Buterin, Patrick Storchenegger, and Aya Miyaguchi.
Two upgrades queued for 2026
Two upgrades are on the calendar for this year: Glamsterdam and Hegotá. The 2026 protocol roadmap sets three tracks — scaling, user experience, and hardening the base layer — and targets a gas limit beyond 100 million. It also considers post-quantum readiness. The next concrete milestone is the Glamsterdam upgrade, expected to go live later this year.
