Crypto Timeline
Chronological chapters tracking the biggest onboarding waves in crypto.
Collapse eras to focus, or expand to view all highlights.
2008–2015
Genesis & Early Infrastructure
From the whitepaper and genesis block to early exchange lessons and first state regulation.
2016–2018
ICO Boom & Fork Debates
Crowdfunding mania, governance forks, and the rise of mega-exchanges amid early hacks.
2020–2022
Macro Shock & DeFi Summer
COVID liquidity shock, on-chain liquidity bootstrapping, and the road to the Merge’s execution.
COVID-19 Black Swan2020-03-122020MakerDAO Black Thursday2020-03-122020Uniswap V2 Launch2020-05-182020
PancakeSwap Launch2020-09-202020Meerkat Finance Rugpull2021-03-052021SafeMoon Liquidity Drain2021-03-292021Wormhole Bridge Hack2022-02-022022Axie Infinity Ronin Bridge Hack2022-03-232022Terra/Luna Collapse2022-05-092022Three Arrows Capital Collapse2022-06-272022Celsius Bankruptcy2022-07-132022Ethereum Merge2022-09-152022Alameda Balance Sheet Leak2022-11-022022FTX Exchange Collapse2022-11-112022
2021
NFT & Onboarding Wave
Consumer onramps, NFTs, and global policy shifts during peak retail discovery.
2022–2023
CeFi Contagion & Bridge Hacks
Stablecoin stress, lender failures, and bridge exploits reshaping risk perceptions.
Verification pending: no quality-approved highlights in this era yet.
2023–2025
Pump.fun & Meme Liquidity
Memecoin rails, L2 onboarding, and renewed ETF-driven institutional bridges.