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In the future, Ethereum faces several fronts that may drive or limit its price. One is the technological roadmap. The transition to Proof-of-Stake (the original “Ethereum 2.0”) is already complete, but scalability improvements are still pending. The next major update is Pectra (scheduled for May 7, 2025), a bundle of ~11 EIPs that includes staking and usability improvements. For example, it will allow grouping up to 2,048 ETH under a single validator (EIP-7251), streamlining the staking operation. It also incorporates the long-awaited “account abstraction” for wallets (simplified signing cycles). After Pectra, Ethereum plans to launch other “sharding” improvements to scale (e.g., EIP-4844 for ephemeral data in L2) in 2025-2026, further reducing transaction costs in rollups.
Meanwhile, the adoption of layer 2 will continue to grow. As of February 2025, there were more than $42 billion locked in Ethereum's L2. Arbitrum (optimistic rollup) and Base (Coinbase rollup) lead with TVL of ~$13 billion and $5 billion. These networks maintain millions of users and applications on Ethereum, which reinforces the utility of ETH even as it reduces its direct use.
In the regulatory and market arena, the environment has improved in the U.S. Since the 2024 election, the SEC has shown greater flexibility. In April 2025, it approved the trading of options on spot Ether ETFs (e.g., for BlackRock's iShares Ethereum Trust), providing new hedging tools for institutional investors. Even Grayscale is pushing to allow Ethereum ETFs to include staking returns. In summary, regulatory adjustments aim for greater integration of ETH into traditional markets. However, risks such as rate increases or macro shocks will continue to condition short-term quotes.
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