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How was ETH initially distributed?

The Ethereum network launched with a supply of 72 million ether (ETH). Eighty-three percent of it — 60 million ETH — went to participants in a crowdsale held in July and August of 2014. Buyers, who likely numbered in the low thousands, sent a total of 31,000 bitcoin (about $18 million at the time) to a designated address in exchange for a promise of ETH at network launch, putting the average sale price around $0.30 per ETH. The proceeds funded protocol development, legal expenses, communications, and research.

Of the remaining 12 million ETH distributed at launch in 2015, half was split among 83 early contributors to the protocol, mostly based on time contributed. The other half was set aside for the Ethereum Foundation, the non-profit tasked with promoting adoption and further development of the network.

The small pool of crowdsale participants meant ETH started out highly concentrated, and it stayed that way for years — blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis found that as of May 2019, just 376 individuals controlled 33% of the circulating supply. Distribution has broadened over time as early buyers sold to new entrants and new supply was issued.

Why does this matter? Wide token distribution supports decentralization — a key value proposition of any public blockchain. When tokens are widely held, the network is less susceptible to influence or collusion by a small group of participants, which would threaten its credible neutrality.