We’ve come a long way.
Ethereum is turning 10 today. Somehow, it still feels like just the beginning.
And I’ve been here quite a while. I learned about Ethereum in 2016. Unlike Bitcoin, it pulled me in immediately because of what it made possible: programmable money and a system that didn’t ask for permission. One that anyone could build on. It sounded like real freedom — the promise of a new economy.
I fell in love with it — completely. I met some of the most thoughtful, curious, and weirdly wonderful people I know. People who build, question, prototype, dream. People who believe in public goods. People who help you debug your contract and your life in the same conversation.
By 2018, I was organizing my first Ethereum event. Soon after, I started working full-time in crypto. It hasn’t let go of me since.
It’s my job. My mission. My community. Most of my closest friends are people I met through crypto.
Even my love life is in crypto (which, for the record, I don’t necessarily recommend — but honestly, how could I date someone who works at a bank?).
In the years that followed, I got deeply involved in the Ethereum community — eventually co-creating ETHWarsaw. It started with a simple goal: bring builders together in my city. No hype, no shilling, just a place for people to connect, collaborate, and build things that matter.
What was supposed to be just one event, turned into a yearly conference, a hackathon, a coworking hub, and a growing collective of people who care.
I know crypto can be chaotic. Ethereum too. But after all these years, I’m still here — building, organizing, hoping, showing up. And at least now, we no longer wonder if everything we’re building might be outlawed tomorrow.
I still believe we’re just getting started.
Monika Zając
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