Author: Ebunker Chinese
Reprint: Vernacular Blockchain
As US regulators give the green light, traditional Wall Street institutions quietly buy up, Vitalik has accumulated several Ethereum L1 expansion ideas, and the Federal Reserve is secretly turning the needle towards interest rate cuts - all grand narratives are converging on the same main line: Ethereum.
The four-wheel drive of regulatory thawing, technological iteration, macro trends and "ultrasonic" monetary mechanism are paving an acceleration runway for the next 3-18 months.
The net inflow curve of ETH ETF continues to hit new highs, the gas fee on the block browser is about to exceed 5 million, and Ethereum has returned to the weekly MA200; the on-chain pledge rate is approaching 30% and is still rising. From the North American Ethereum version of MicroStrategy SharpLink writing ETH into the balance sheet, to Robinhood announcing that the European region can use Ethereum L2 to trade on-chain US stocks, to Hong Kong announcing the acceptance of ETH as proof of immigration assets, the core value of Ethereum is becoming a global consensus.
Political games, capital momentum, protocol improvements, and foundation reform iterations are all happening simultaneously - there is only one key question left in the market: Are you ready?
The following 10 reasons will break down layer by layer how ETH leapt from industry consensus to a cross-cycle explosive engine.
1. The biggest regulatory benefit and policy in history
The dramatic shift in US regulatory stance has brought new optimism to Ethereum. The new chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Paul Atkins, has expressed support for crypto innovation — a stark contrast to the Gary Gensler era.
Atkins has withdrawn his Gensler-era proposals for decentralized finance and self-custody, and has instead adopted an “innovation first” strategy. In a recent roundtable, Atkins even emphasized that developers should not be punished for writing decentralized code.
This is a major policy U-turn: The SEC under Gensler had considered Ether an “unregistered security” and investigated it. Now, under pro-crypto leadership, Ethereum enjoys a clearer regulatory outlook. As decentralized finance gains recognition at the highest levels — Atkins called self-custody “a fundamental American value” — the threat of hostile regulation has significantly diminished, greatly encouraging institutional participation in the Ethereum market.
Additionally, recent legislative developments in the United States, particularly the Senate’s GENIUS Act, mark a critical turning point in regulatory clarity for crypto-dollar stablecoins.
These bills aim to establish a clear framework for payment stablecoin issuers, which will give Ethereum’s adoption a strong boost given its status as the primary settlement layer for regulated stablecoins such as USDC and PYUSD, as well as one of the most important public chains for the largest stablecoin, USDT:
Content source:%20U.S.%20Congress
Comprehensive stablecoin framework
The Guiding and Establishing a National Innovation for Stablecoins in the United States Act (GENIUS Act) was successfully passed by the Senate in June 2025 with bipartisan support. It imposes strict standards on stablecoin issuers, requiring 100% cash or Treasury reserve backing, monthly audit disclosures, and bankruptcy protection for token holders. Crucially, it allows banks and non-bank companies to issue stablecoins under license and be regulated.
Ethereum as Stablecoin Infrastructure
By explicitly legalizing and regulating stablecoin issuance, these bills validate dollar-backed tokens that primarily exist on the Ethereum network. For example, Circle’s USDC and PayPal’s PYUSD are ERC-20 tokens on Ethereum, relying on Ethereum’s security and global reach. The federal framework solidifies Ethereum’s role as the settlement backbone.
Lawmakers themselves acknowledge that well-regulated stablecoins could “strengthen the dollar’s position as the world’s reserve currency” while maintaining U.S. competitiveness. This mission inherently leverages public networks like Ethereum (where USD stablecoins circulate in %20DeFi%20 and payments).
DeFi%20 and USD Liquidity
Ethereum's %20DeFi%20 ecosystem, from lending protocols to decentralized exchanges (DEX), runs on stablecoin liquidity. By legalizing stablecoins, the GENIUS Act effectively secures the foundation of %20DeFi%. Participants can use assets like %20USDC%20 with greater confidence, without worrying about sudden crackdowns or legal ambiguity.
This encourages institutional participation in %20DeFi (e.g., using stablecoins for trading, borrowing, payments). In short, the legislation bridges traditional finance (TradFi) and %20DeFi: it invites banks, payment companies, and even tech companies to issue and use Ethereum-based stablecoins, while providing guardrails (KYC/AML, audits, redemption rights) to reduce systemic and legal risks. The net effect is a supportive policy environment that anchors Ethereum’s role in the digital dollar economy.
Finally, another encryption bill, the CLARITY Act (HR 3633), has also made quite good progress recently.
The CLARITY Act was first promoted by the House of Representatives. On June 13, 2025, the bill was passed by the Financial Services Committee and the Agriculture Committee with a vote of 32:19 and 47:6, respectively. Currently, the bill has entered the Rules Committee process and is waiting to be submitted to the full House of Representatives for a vote.
Data source: U.S. Financial Services
The CLARITY Act eliminates the biggest question hanging over Ethereum in the United States: whether ETH is a security.
By explicitly classifying ETH (and any sufficiently decentralized Layer-1 token) as a "digital commodity" regulated by the CFTC, the bill precludes retroactive SEC enforcement, creates a safe harbor for secondary trading, and clarifies when developers and validators are not "brokers." This combination significantly reduces regulatory risk premiums, paves the way for Wall Street products related to spot and staked ETH, and gives the green light for DeFi to continue innovating on the network.
In summary, given Ethereum’s dominance in custodial stablecoins and %20DeFi%20, these multiple regulatory green lights greatly strengthen the prospects for medium-term adoption, transaction growth, and Ethereum’s integration into the traditional financial system.
2.%20"ETH%20 version%20MicroStrategy" leads the competition among institutions
More and more big money players are viewing Ethereum as a strategic asset, a trend accelerated by a notable move by SharpLink Gaming. SharpLink, a Nasdaq-listed company, recently completed a milestone capital allocation: it acquired 176,000 ETH (about $4.63 billion) and used Ethereum as its main reserve asset, becoming the world's largest public ETH holder overnight. Currently, more than 95% of this asset has been staked to earn returns and enhance the security of the Ethereum network.
SharpLink%20's CEO called this a "landmark moment" and explicitly compared the strategy to %20MicroStrategy%20's Bitcoin strategy, except that it was replaced with Ethereum. This bold financing was strongly supported by %20Joseph%20Lubin%20, founder of %20ConsenSys%20 and one of the eight co-founders of Ethereum, who has become %20SharpLink%20's new chairman. Lubin%20 has stated on different occasions: "SharpLink%20's bold %20ETH%20 strategy marks a milestone in institutional adoption of Ethereum," and pointed out that %20"ETH%20 not only has Bitcoin-like value storage properties, but also has become a truly productive reserve asset due to its predictable scarcity and continuous returns; as Ethereum increasingly becomes the underlying architecture of the digital economy, ETH%20 is also seen as a strategic investment in the future financial architecture."
Cryptocurrency treasuries have suddenly become a trend: SharpLink%20's success (its stock price soared %20400% after the announcement) has prompted peers to emulate this strategy. The listed company %20Bitmine%20Immersion (BMNR) also recently announced that it had raised %202.5%20 billion US dollars specifically for the purchase of %20ETH, positioning itself as an "Ethereum Treasury Strategy Company". Bitmine%20 is led by %20Fundstrat%20co-founder %20Tom%20Lee%, and its stock price soared more than %203000% in a week after the announcement, attracting investment from many first-tier institutions such as %20Founders%20Fund, Pantera, and Galaxy%.
Meanwhile, observers report that several companies, including in Europe, are also exploring Ethereum-focused reserve allocations. While some forward-thinking companies such as BTCS Inc. have long held ETH, SharpLink’s move represents a new level of mainstream adoption.
For Ethereum, the fact that more and more corporate treasuries are accumulating ETH is undoubtedly a positive—it locks up supply (especially since most tokens will eventually be staked) and sends a signal of institutional confidence.
At the same time, institutions are also making arrangements through funds: the first batch of Ethereum futures ETFs will be launched at the end of 202024, and the approval of spot Ethereum ETFs is just around the corner, which may release billions of dollars of new demand. BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said in an interview with CNBC: "I think it is valuable to launch an Ethereum ETF. This is just the first step towards asset tokenization, and I really believe this is our future direction."
What can be seen is that Ethereum%20 is increasingly being viewed by listed companies and funds as a strategic investment and reserve asset, similar to the development trajectory of Bitcoin in the previous cycle.
3. The weekly technical indicators return to MA200
Ethereum’s price chart is showing multiple bullish technical signals, suggesting a possible trend reversal to the upside.
After a long period of downturn, in May 2020, ETH regained its position above the weekly MA200—%, which is one of the most classic indicators of the return of the bull market.
From a technical perspective, Ethereum’s overall market structure has improved: a series of lower lows has gradually given way to higher lows and a breakout of a long-term descending channel.
From May to June, ETH was above its 200% weekly moving average, and the 200% weekly moving average (around $2,500) has become a support "launch pad"—and ETH is bottoming above it, similar to the recovery phase of past cycles.
Momentum indicators confirm the positive structure: the weekly candlestick chart shows a long body and light shadows, indicating strong buying and less selling pressure on pullbacks. The rising slope of the key moving averages and the reversal of the MACD indicator show that the upward momentum is increasing. In addition, we also see bullish chart patterns %20-%20-%20. For example, several analysts pointed out that a potential bull flag pattern has appeared on the %20ETH%20 chart, which, if confirmed, could target the upside above $3,000 in the medium term.
This suggests that traders are confident that ETH is well on its way to downside risk and that the path of least resistance is to the upside. Overall, Ethereum's technical picture of re-establishing its 200% weekly moving average, higher highs and lows, and increased momentum suggest that the asset is in the early stages of a significant bullish reversal, supporting a positive outlook for the next 3% to 18% months.
4.%20Ethereum%20Pectra%20 Upgrade Rapid Advancement Roadmap
Ethereum's technical roadmap is progressing steadily, continuously enhancing its fundamental value. The Pectra upgrade (i.e. Prague + Electra hard fork) launched on May 7, 2025 marks the entry of Ethereum into a new phase, with 11 EIPs covering improvements from smart wallets to scalability.
The most iconic changes include: increasing the upper limit of a single validator's stake from 32 ETH to 48 ETH, and recalibrating fees to significantly increase Layer-2 throughput. These changes reduce costs, improve L2 performance, accelerate the adoption of optimistic Rollups and zk-Rollups in the ecosystem, and clear obstacles for future L1 expansion.
At the same time, Pectra%20 upgrade supports account abstraction, such as gas-free payment, batch transactions, etc., which lays the foundation for the large-scale adoption of stablecoins in the future, and further widens the gap with other public chains in user experience and flexibility. As Ethereum core developer%20Tim%20Beiko%20 summarized on April 24: "A highlight of Pectra%20 is%20EIP-7702, which makes use cases such as batch transactions, Gas%20 payment and social recovery possible without migrating assets."
At the mainnet level, Ethereum is also gradually increasing the Gas Limit, from the initial 1,500%200,000 to 3,600%200,000, and further to 6,000%200,000 in the future, which has brought a 2–4x% increase in the number of transactions that Ethereum L1 can process per second, reaching 60%20TPS. It can be predicted that after multiple expansions, Ethereum is expected to break through the 3% digit TPS. Ethereum researcher Dankrad Feist even proposed: "We have a blueprint to increase the Gas Limit by 100%20 times in four years, which can theoretically increase Ethereum TPS to 2,000."
Meanwhile, Ethereum is actively moving forward with zero-knowledge (ZK) integration as part of the “Surge” roadmap phase. Upgrades like Pectra (and the upcoming Fusaka) lay the foundation for full ETH ZKification and ZK-proof validating light clients.
Clearly, Ethereum%20s core protocol is evolving rapidly, keeping it technologically ahead of its competitors.
5.%20 Interest rate cut is imminent and the macro environment is favorable
The changing macroeconomic environment will favor Ethereum in the coming months. After a year of high interest rates, the market expects the U.S. Federal Reserve to shift to lower interest rates, which could push the benchmark yield below the return on ETH staking.
According to %20CME%20Fed%20Watch%20, the federal funds rate will fall to 3.25% or lower by mid-202026. At the same time, the Ethereum%20 on-chain staking yield (currently about %203.5% annualized rate) is expected to rise due to increased network activity and fees.
The convergence of these trends creates a “double-hit effect”: traditional risk-free rates fall, while Ethereum’s native yields rise, potentially turning the spread between ETH staking and Treasury yields positive.
If Ethereum staking can provide returns significantly higher than U.S. Treasuries or savings accounts, it will enhance the appeal of ETH as a high-yield and liquid asset. Not only does staking bring a solid return, but ETH itself also has the potential to rise, which is an attractive combination for investors who have difficulty obtaining returns elsewhere.
Additionally, it is well known that more accommodative Fed policy (and an improving inflation outlook) tends to weaken the dollar, which has historically been beneficial for all crypto assets.
Such a loose monetary policy macro trend is very favorable for ETH in the next %203%20 to %2018%20 months.
6.%20Staking: On-chain staking and %20ETF staking in tandem
Justin Drake, a core researcher at Ethereum, pointed out in multiple podcast interviews between 202024 and 202025 that “Ethereum staking has become fundamental to network security and economic models. If the United States approves a staking ETF, it may bring billions of dollars in new institutional demand.”
Ethereum's transition to Proof of Stake (PoS) has opened up a new dynamic around staking, and U.S. regulators are gradually becoming open to investment products that leverage staking returns. With the SEC approving multiple spot Ethereum ETFs in 2024, the stage is set for the next phase of innovation: a U.S. staking ETF that provides exposure to ETH plus staking returns.
Therefore, Ethereum's future %20Staking%20 will become a two-pronged approach:
1. Traditional institutional staking: How a staking-enabled ETF might impact Ethereum’s ecosystem and value;
2. On-chain protocol staking: The role of protocols like %20Lido%20 and Ether.Fi in popularizing staking.
Growing staking participation: Ethereum staking has experienced strong growth after the Merge and Shanghai upgrade. As of Q1 2020, approximately 28% of the total ETH supply was staked in validator nodes, a record high, reflecting strong confidence in the network.
On-chain staking: Multiple positions are advancing together to crack the centralized staking
It is worth noting that ETH%20Staking%20 has not become centralized: Lido%20Finance%20 is still the largest single staking provider, but its once dominant market share (about %2030%%%20) has not continued to be concentrated. The reason is that Lido%20 personally promoted the two major sectors of community staking (CSM) and %20DVT%20 staking (SDVTM), which gradually increased their share in the %20Lido%20Staking%20 pool, thus shattering the doubts that %20ETH%20Staking%20 would soon become centralized.
At the same time, the staking landscape is becoming more diverse, with new platforms like Ether.Fi increasing ETH staked by about 30% in the past 6 months, with the net increase in staked exceeding 31.2 million ETH in the past month alone. In particular, strategies related to revolving loans allow Ether.Fi to demonstrate how innovation can make Ethereum staking more accessible and capital efficient: users can easily participate with small amounts, maintain liquidity, and even amplify returns, all of which encourage broader staking participation.
Staking returns have changed investors' considerations - ETH is no longer a non-yielding asset, but is gradually becoming a productive asset, with returns comparable to dividends or interest, and even answers Buffett's question about the lack of interest in gold and Bitcoin assets. Overall, the amount of staked ETH is still at an all-time high, indicating that holders view staking as an attractive long-term strategy (earning income while protecting the network) rather than short-term speculation.
Expected US mortgage ETFs and their impact
With spot Ethereum ETFs already trading in the US, a natural progression would be to launch an ETF that not only holds ETH but also participates in staking to earn yield. Such a product would be groundbreaking, providing traditional investors with exposure to both ETH price appreciation and approximately 3–4% annualized staking returns in a single, regulated vehicle. If a US-backed staking ETF is approved, the impact on Ethereum could be significant:
Increased demand and reduced circulation : Staking ETFs may attract institutional capital and retirement accounts that prefer the convenience of ETFs. This will lock more ETH in the staking contract, effectively reducing the liquidity supply in circulation. A popular ETF may exert a "push back" on the price of ETH.
Verify the legality of staking : In particular, the new SEC chairman made it clear that “validators, staking as a service” do not fall under the jurisdiction of securities, which will send a strong signal to the staking ETFs approved by the United States.
Data source: SEC
Industry experts such as Bloomberg's James Seyffart and ETF analysts at The ETF Store predict that by the end of 202025, the SEC may allow staking functionality to be included in ETFs for major assets such as Ethereum. In short, U.S. staking ETFs appear to be a question of "when, not if."
Essentially, it normalizes staking in the eyes of traditional investors as a kind of “crypto dividend” or bond-like interest. This mainstream acceptance could expand Ethereum’s investor base, attracting not only growth investors but also those seeking yield and income.
In summary, Ethereum staking has become a core pillar of the network's value proposition, and the emergence of a U.S. staking ETF could be a game changer. This growing staking base reduces circulating supply and encourages long-term holding, supporting the price of ETH. If regulators allow ETFs to integrate staking, it will invite a new class of investors to participate in Ethereum's yield within a familiar framework, potentially boosting demand for ETH and strengthening its position as a yield asset.
Allen Ding, founder of Ebunker, said: "As Asia's top staking service provider, I would like to talk about the potential of Ethereum from the perspective of nodes. Ethereum currently has more than 1 million nodes and thousands of node entities. It is one of the most decentralized protocols in the entire blockchain industry and even in all organizations in the entire human society.
Although Ethereum has performed poorly in terms of application ecosystem prosperity and user growth in recent years, I believe that the long-term reputation accumulated in terms of decentralization and security is its real and unchallengeable moat. We have recently seen many commercial companies such as %20Robinhood%20 still choose %20ETH%20L2%20 to issue its on-chain securities, which shows the indestructible position of Ethereum in people's hearts.
So, I boldly say that Ethereum cannot kill %20—%20—%20 in both the literal and implicit sense.”
7. Layer 2 adoption surges as thousands of chains compete to launch
Ethereum’s strategy of expanding through the %20Layer-2%20 network is achieving remarkable results. The L2%20 strategy eliminates many new “Ethereum killers” that might have emerged.
Ethereum is not competing with every emerging blockchain, but empowering them as L2, and even large enterprises are joining in. For example, Sony launched its own Ethereum L2 blockchain, Soneium, which aims to bring Web3 to gaming, entertainment, and finance. Sony's platform will use Optimism's OP Stack technology, inheriting the security of Ethereum while providing customized scalability. This is the first time that a global consumer technology giant has built a platform directly based on Ethereum's L2 framework, which greatly verifies Ethereum's strategy.
Recently, Robinhood also joined the ranks, announcing plans to build its own L2 blockchain based on Arbitrum to support its new business lines such as tokenized stocks and encrypted perpetual contracts launched in the European Union. As one of the hottest financial platforms in the United States, Robinhood's participation marks the continued appeal of Ethereum's L2 strategy to mainstream financial technology companies.
Meanwhile, the L2 network of the US trading platform Coinbase, Base, has seen a surge in activity since its launch in 2024. Base handles more than 600,000 transactions per day, even surpassing traditional L2s such as Arbitrum in usage. In fact, as of the end of 2024, Base accounted for about 60% of all L2 transactions, demonstrating the potential for Ethereum L2 to achieve massive expansion with the support of large platforms.
Not to be outdone, BN%20 has also adopted %20Ethereum%20's technology%20—%20—%20 its %20opBNB%20 chain is based on %20Optimism%20's %20L2, achieving over %204,000%20TPS in testing and processing %203,500,000 transactions during the beta period. By using %20Ethereum%20's %20EVM%20 and %20OP%20Stack, opBNB%20 extends %20Ethereum%20's influence to the %20BNB%20Chain%20 ecosystem while maintaining compatibility.
The conclusion is: Ethereum%20's network effects are so strong that it has converted potential competitors and large enterprises to become part of its %20L2%20 superstructure at an early stage. This widespread %20L2%20 adoption (from %20Sony%20 to %20Robinhood, %20Coinbase%20 to %20BN) has driven more usage and fees back to %20Ethereum, underscoring its position as the preferred settlement layer.
8.%20Mainstream and political dual adoption
Beyond the price, signals from the broader ecosystem suggest that Ethereum is becoming increasingly woven into the fabric of technology, business, and even politics.
One notable example is the Trump family’s foray into crypto through a new platform called World Freedom Financial (WLFI). WLFI wants to offer high-yield crypto services and digital asset trading — essentially bringing the concept of DeFi to the masses.
Trump's son Trump Jr. publicly predicted that WLFI has the potential to "reshape DeFi and CeFi, and completely change the financial industry," and emphasized: "We are just getting started." Before and after the tweet, WLFI spent $4,800,000 to buy ETH to support its DeFi business.
The Trump family’s involvement—they reportedly own a majority stake in WLFI and even appointed Trump himself as “chief crypto advocate”—shows that even traditional conservative figures are now beginning to see the value of Ethereum-based finance, which can be seen as an indirect endorsement of Ethereum technology.
At the same time, the attitudes of institutional investors are also undergoing fundamental changes.
In June 2025, the net inflow of Ethereum spot ETF exceeded 1.1 billion US dollars, setting a new monthly high since 2025, accounting for more than 27% of the current cumulative net inflow (4.18 billion US dollars), showing that institutional funds are rapidly and massively entering the Ethereum market. More importantly, this is not a short-term capital movement, but a continuous allocation trend:
As of June 12, 2025, the Ethereum spot ETF has recorded positive capital inflows for 19 consecutive trading days, breaking the record of continuous net inflows in the history of crypto ETFs; among them, the net inflow on June 11 was as high as US$240 million, which not only far exceeded the US$165 million of the Bitcoin ETF in the same period, but also highlighted that the market's preference for ETH is increasing.
Data source: X @etheraider
This series of changes in capital flows sends a clear signal: institutions are no longer just "paying attention" to Ethereum, but are firmly "allocating" Ethereum.
The logic behind it is not complicated:
- Ethereum has a diversified income structure (staking income, MEV capture, L2 profit sharing).
- Have a more efficient technology upgrade path (such as EIP-4844, modular architecture),
- And a continuously leading developer ecosystem and application vitality.
For institutions, ETH is no longer just a substitute for Bitcoin, but more like a "proof of equity in the digital financial system" — representing the underlying rights and interests of future global network finance. This shift in role positioning has driven ETH to gradually become one of the core assets in mainstream financial configurations.
Morgan Stanley analysts recently reiterated: "If Ethereum can continue to upgrade smoothly, more institutional investment (such as a new round of ETFs) will continue to push ETH prices up. We still stick to our bold long-term target of $15,000."
Moreover, it also highlights the development of Ethereum: from being ignored by regulators and traditional forces to being adopted by the President of the United States. Other signals in the ecosystem are also everywhere: PayPal launched an Ethereum-based stablecoin (PYUSD) and Visa is using Ethereum to settle USDC payments.
In addition, mainstream adoption in countries and regions outside the United States is also accelerating.
Since 2021, Europe, Asia and emerging markets around the world have also actively adopted Ethereum in the fields of policy, finance and technology:
- Europe: After the MiCA regulations came into effect, Deutsche Bank, BNP Paribas and others used Ethereum as a digital bond issuance and settlement platform. French asset management giant Amundi made it clear that "Ethereum is at the core of our digital securities strategy." In 2023, the London Stock Exchange (LSE) announced support for the listing of Ethereum-based digital assets. The Swiss-based SIX trading platform has launched Ethereum spot and derivatives since 2022.
- Asia Pacific: In 2024, Hong Kong spot ETH ETF will be listed and support Staking. HashKey, OSL and other compliant trading platforms use Ethereum as the underlying asset custody. Singapore DBS Bank has been conducting a pilot of Ethereum DeFi liquidity pool since 2022, with ETH as the core collateral. Japan's Mitsubishi UFJ leads Progmat Coin, and the Ethereum compatible architecture issues Japanese yen stablecoins. Australia's eAUD is Ethereum compatible with EVM.
- Latin America and the Middle East: Brazil’s Central Bank CBDC, the UAE, and Abu Dhabi promote asset tokenization and digital identity, with Ethereum and L2 platforms as the preferred platforms.
- Africa: The Central Bank of Nigeria will partner with Consensys in 2022 to promote the eNaira national payment system based on the Ethereum architecture.
These cases show that Ethereum has become the preferred underlying platform for digital asset issuance, asset custody, compliance pilots and corporate innovation, whether in Europe and the United States, Asia, the Middle East or Africa.
As more and more governments, fintech companies and enterprises around the world integrate Ethereum into their actual businesses, the actual demand and reality of ETH will further improve the supply and demand structure, providing more room for the upward cycle in the next 3-18 months.
9. Vitalik’s continued promotion and the reform of the Ethereum Foundation
Ethereum has not only made continuous breakthroughs in technology and the market, but the organizations and thought leaders behind it have also entered a new stage of development. Vitalik's continued research, the reshaping of the foundation, the establishment of the Etherealize department, and the co-evolution of L1 and L2 have jointly pushed the Ethereum ecosystem towards a more mature and influential direction.
Vitalik: The only crypto leader after Satoshi Nakamoto
Vitalik Buterin is known as "the only true god after Satoshi Nakamoto". He is not only the founder of Ethereum, but also continues to influence the ecosystem as a pioneer in industry research and a social media KOL. Currently, his focus includes:
- ZK strategy: Vitalik has established zero-knowledge proof (ZK proof) as the core technology of Ethereum for the next decade. He continues to promote the dominance of ZK proof in expansion and security, while emphasizing that Ethereum cannot rely too much on a single technology route. Although the industry has achieved breakthroughs such as real-time ZK proof, Vitalik also reminded that performance optimization, auditability and ease of use are still shortcomings, and ZK proof will play a key role in the process of improving Ethereum's efficiency and security in the long run.
- RISC-V + ZK-EVM performance innovation: Vitalik advocates the use of a general RISC-V virtual machine as a long-term goal, and believes that if the mainnet can achieve this upgrade, the execution efficiency is expected to increase by 50-100 times or even higher. At the same time, ZK-EVM will serve as a mid-term transition and supplement. Through architectural innovation, Ethereum is expected to significantly lead similar public chains in verifiability and performance, and continue to strengthen its core competitiveness.
- Light Node Roadmap: Vitalik promotes innovative ideas such as "partial stateless nodes", allowing ordinary users to participate in network verification by only retaining the sub-states they care about, thereby lowering the hardware threshold and reducing the pressure of RPC centralization. This direction will help improve the level of decentralization and user participation of Ethereum, and lay a technical foundation for broader social participation in the future.
In the crypto space, his number of followers on Twitter is second only to CZ, and his personal voice is enough to influence the crypto industry and spark industry discussions. Vitalik continues to contribute in-depth research and cutting-edge discussions to the industry, demonstrating his absolute dominance as a blockchain thought leader.
Foundation Reorganization: Organizational Structure Optimization and Core Talent Promotion
In 2025, the Ethereum Foundation (EF) released a new organizational structure. Former Executive Director Aya Miyaguchi was promoted to President, focusing on global strategy and external relations; the board of directors is composed of Vitalik Buterin, Aya Miyaguchi, Swiss legal counsel Patrick Storchenegger and new director Hsiao-Wei Wang, responsible for long-term vision and compliance supervision.
At the operational level, the Foundation introduced the "Co-Executive Directors" model for the first time: Hsiao-Wei Wang, former head of Protocol Support, and Tomasz Stańczak, founder of Nethermind, are jointly responsible for daily management; at the same time, Bastian Aue (organizational strategy, recruitment and training) and Josh Stark (project execution, market communication) joined the management team to form horizontal collaboration.
This reorganization will clearly separate decision-making power from executive power, forming a two-tier governance structure of "board of directors - management", thereby dispersing single-point risks, improving execution efficiency, and providing a smoother collaboration channel for the three major sectors of core R&D (Protocol & Privacy & Scaling), ecological development (Ecodev), and operational support.
Overall, EF is evolving from “single-line” management to a flatter, multi-center governance model, providing a solid foundation for Ethereum’s next stage of cross-L1/L2 expansion and multi-field collaboration.
Etherealize: A new breakthrough in Wall Street strategic docking
In January this year, an independent non-profit organization, Etherealize, was added to the Ethereum ecosystem. The organization is funded by the Ethereum Foundation, but remains independent in governance and operations, and is positioned as "Ethereum's institutional market and product hub." The Etherealize team is led by Vivek Raman, a senior Wall Street banker, and in March Danny Ryan officially joined as a co-founder.
Etherealize mainly provides research, education and product docking services to banks, securities companies and asset management institutions, focusing on promoting the practical application of asset tokenization, customizable L2 solutions and zero-knowledge privacy tools. The establishment of this organization means that the Ethereum ecosystem is moving from a simple technical community to financial infrastructure, and the specific lobbying for Wall Street has further consolidated ETH's position as an institutional-level digital asset.
Technical thinking shift: L1 and L2 coordinated development
While Ethereum is deepening its L2 expansion, it is also accelerating the improvement of the basic performance of the mainnet(L1). Vitalik Buterin pointed out in an interview with Decrypt on June 2 this year: "I think we should expand the Ethereum main network by about 10 times in the next year or so."
The most intuitive progress is the dynamic increase in the Gas Limit. In 2024, the mainnet Gas Limit will be increased from 15 million to 36 million. After entering the voting stage in 2025, it is expected to increase to 60 million, bringing the peak TPS of the ETH mainnet to 60, which is 4 times the historical level.
Unlike Bitcoin's fixed block size, Ethereum's Gas Limit is dynamically adjusted by the validators of the entire network without the need for a hard fork, which improves the flexibility of on-chain governance and community participation. Recent radical proposals such as EIP-9698 suggest significantly increasing the Gas Limit in the next few years, but the community as a whole prefers to balance security, decentralization, and performance.
The latest tests show that the 60 million Gas Limit has a controllable impact on most node performance and block propagation latency, laying a solid foundation for future L1+L2 collaboration and serving hundreds of millions of users.
10. Token Economy: Ultrasonic Currency Still Works
Ethereum's native token economics continues to strengthen its investment value. Ethereum's "ultrasonic currency" theory is being realized: the burning of transaction fees often exceeds the new issuance, and even causes net deflation of ETH supply during high activity periods. Since the London upgrade, more than 4.6 million ETH have been burned, continuously reducing the circulating supply.
From a supply perspective, higher staking participation does slightly increase protocol issuance (more validators = more reward ETH released), but since the switch to PoS, Ethereum's issuance is still far lower than the Proof of Work (PoW) era - only about 700,000 ETH is newly issued each year (corresponding to 30 million staked ETH), which is far lower than the 4.5 million ETH per year under the old mining system.
From a consumption perspective, on-chain activity remains strong — Ethereum steadily processes billions of dollars in transactions per day, covering decentralized finance, NFTs, and payments, far more than any other smart contract chain. Despite the bear market, this healthy network usage suggests that Ethereum's utility (and therefore demand for ETH as fuel) is on a solid upward trend.
Even at ~28% staking participation, annual ETH issuance via staking is only around 0.5–1% of supply, and under the EIP-1559 fee burn mechanism, periods of high network activity still see net deflation of ETH supply.
In fact, Ethereum’s net issuance hovers around zero, and is even deflationary at times, depending on network fees. With the burning mechanism offsetting fees, Ethereum’s monetary policy can be said to remain deflationary or neutral in many cases. Therefore, as staking grows, Ethereum’s “inflation rate” remains low and “yield” remains high, while more and more ETH is locked up to protect the network, achieving “have it all”.
As L2 adoption (as discussed above) drives more transactions to be settled on L1, Ethereum’s fee income (and thus ETH burn) should continue to grow. Overall, Ethereum’s supply and demand situation in the medium term is very bullish: effective supply decreases, and demand from network users and long-term stakers/investors increases.
in conclusion
Looking at the four dimensions of regulation, technology, capital and macro, Ethereum is entering the "compound interest zone at the turning point". When the policy ceiling is opened, the protocol performance continues to iterate, the institutional configuration shifts from trial to strategy, and the global liquidity is loosened again - these four forces are not isolated and superimposed, but coupled with each other and resonate exponentially.
History tells us that the assets that truly change the rules of the game often quietly complete the valuation reshaping before the consensus is fully solidified. Today, the ten core reasons have been arranged side by side, interpreting a clear timeline - from compliance release to treasury account, from Pectra upgrade to pledge ETF, from L2 expansion to deflationary monetary theory. All signals point to the same answer: ETH is no longer just "an opportunity for the next stage", but "the most certain increment at the moment". The market will eventually realize this logic with price - the only question left is whether you will choose to turn the last page before or after the story is finished.
Link to this article: https://www.hellobtc.com/kp/du/07/5953.html
Source: https://a.c1ns.cn/CrNgC
