Looking at the four dimensions of regulation, technology, capital, and macro factors, Ethereum is entering a 'compounding interval at a turning point.'
When U.S. regulators give the green light, traditional Wall Street institutions quietly stock up, Vitalik has accumulated several Ethereum L1 scalability ideas, and the Federal Reserve subtly shifts toward interest rate cuts — all grand narratives converge on the same main line: Ethereum.
Regulatory thaw, technological iteration, macro winds, and the 'ultrasonic' monetary mechanism are all driving towards paving an accelerated runway for the next 3–18 months.
The net inflow of ETH ETFs continues to hit new highs, with fuel fees on the block explorer about to break 5 million, Ethereum returning to the weekly MA200; the on-chain staking rate is approaching 30% and still climbing, from North America's Ethereum version of MicroStrategy SharpLink writing ETH into its balance sheet, to Robinhood announcing that European regions can trade U.S. stocks on-chain using Ethereum L2, to Hong Kong announcing acceptance of ETH as proof of immigration assets, Ethereum's core value is becoming a global consensus.
Political maneuvering, capital momentum, protocol improvements, and foundation reforms are all roaring in sync — the market is left with one key question: Are you ready?
The next 10 major reasons will layer by layer break down how ETH leaps from industry consensus to a cross-cycle explosive engine.
1. The largest regulatory benefit and policy launch in history.
The dramatic shift in the U.S. regulatory stance has brought new optimistic expectations for Ethereum. The new SEC chair, Paul Atkins, has expressed support for crypto innovation — a stark contrast to the Gensler era.
Atkins has withdrawn the Gensler-era proposals concerning decentralized finance and self-custody, opting instead for an 'innovation-first' strategy. In a recent roundtable, Atkins even emphasized that developers should not be penalized for writing decentralized code.
This marks a major policy turnaround: the SEC under Gensler had viewed Ether as 'an unregistered security' and investigated it. Now, under crypto-supportive leadership, Ethereum enjoys a clearer regulatory outlook. With decentralized finance receiving recognition at the highest levels — Atkins calls 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 movements in the U.S., particularly the Senate's (GENIUS Act), mark a critical turning point in the regulatory clarity of crypto dollar stablecoins.
These bills aim to establish a clear framework for stablecoin issuers, considering Ethereum's role as the main settlement layer for regulated stablecoins like USDC and PYUSD, as well as one of the most important public chains for the largest stablecoin USDT, which will receive strong boosts to its adoption:
Comprehensive stablecoin framework.
(Guiding and Establishing the U.S. Stablecoin National Innovation Act) (GENIUS Act) smoothly passed in the Senate in June 2025 with bipartisan support. It imposes strict standards on stablecoin issuers, requiring 100% cash or treasury reserves, monthly audit disclosures, and bankruptcy protection for token holders. Crucially, it allows both banks and non-bank companies to issue stablecoins under license and regulation.
Ethereum as stablecoin infrastructure.
By explicitly legalizing and regulating stablecoin issuance, these bills validate the 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 coverage. The federal framework solidifies Ethereum's role as a settlement backbone.
Lawmakers themselves acknowledge that well-regulated stablecoins can 'strengthen the dollar's position as the world's reserve currency' while maintaining U.S. competitiveness. This mission essentially leverages public networks like Ethereum (where dollar stablecoins circulate in DeFi and payments).
DeFi and dollar liquidity.
Ethereum's DeFi ecosystem, from lending protocols to decentralized exchanges (DEX), operates on stablecoin liquidity. By legalizing stablecoins, the (GENIUS Act) effectively ensures the foundation of DeFi. Participants can use assets like USDC with greater confidence, without worrying about sudden crackdowns or legal ambiguities.
This encourages institutional participation in DeFi (for example, trading, lending, and payments using stablecoins). In short, this legislation connects traditional finance (TradFi) with DeFi: it invites banks, payment companies, and even tech companies to issue and use Ethereum-based stablecoins while providing safeguards (KYC/AML, audits, redemption rights) to mitigate systemic and legal risks. The ultimate effect is to create a supportive policy environment that anchors Ethereum's role in the digital dollar economy.
Finally, another crypto legislation transparency bill, the CLARITY Act (H.R. 3633), has also made significant progress recently.
(CLARITY Act) was first promoted by the House. On June 13, 2025, the bill was passed in the Financial Services Committee and Agriculture Committee with votes of 32:19 and 47:6, respectively. The bill is now in the rules committee process, awaiting arrangements for submission to the full House for a vote.
(CLARITY Act) eliminates the biggest cloud hanging over Ethereum in the U.S.: whether ETH qualifies as a security.
By explicitly classifying ETH (and any sufficiently decentralized Layer-1 tokens) as 'digital goods' regulated by the CFTC, the bill removes the possibility of SEC retroactive enforcement, creating a safe harbor for secondary trading, and clarifying when developers and validators are not considered 'brokers.' This combination significantly reduces regulatory risk premiums, paves the way for Wall Street products related to spot and staked ETH, and opens the green light for DeFi to continue innovating on the network.
In summary, given Ethereum's dominant position in stablecoin custody and DeFi, these multiple regulatory green lights greatly reinforce the prospects for mid-term adoption, trading growth, and Ethereum's integration into the traditional financial system.
2. 'ETH version of MicroStrategy' leads institutional competition.
An increasing number of large capital players are viewing Ethereum as a strategic asset, a trend accelerated by a striking move from SharpLink Gaming. The NASDAQ-listed company SharpLink has recently completed a milestone funding allocation: acquiring 176,000 ETH (approximately $463 million), positioning Ethereum as its primary reserve asset, overnight becoming the world's largest publicly held ETH owner. Currently, over 95% of this asset has been staked to earn yields and enhance the security of the Ethereum network.
SharpLink's CEO called this a 'milestone moment' and explicitly compared the strategy to MicroStrategy's Bitcoin strategy, only with Ethereum. This bold financing is strongly supported by ConsenSys founder and one of Ethereum's eight co-founders, Joseph Lubin, who has taken on the role of SharpLink's new chairman. Lubin has stated on various occasions: 'SharpLink's bold ETH strategy marks a milestone in institutional adoption of Ethereum' and noted that 'ETH not only possesses Bitcoin-like value storage attributes, but also, due to its predictable scarcity and continuous yield, has become a truly productive reserve asset; as Ethereum increasingly becomes the underlying infrastructure of the digital economy, ETH is also viewed as a strategic investment towards future financial architecture.'
Crypto treasury suddenly becomes a trend: The success of SharpLink (its share price soared by 400% after the announcement) has prompted peers to imitate this strategy. The listed company Bitmine Immersion (BMNR) also recently announced it raised $250 million specifically for purchasing ETH, positioning itself as an 'Ethereum treasury strategy company.' Bitmine is led by Fundstrat co-founder Tom Lee, whose stock price skyrocketed over 3000% within a week of the announcement, attracting investment from several top-tier institutions such as Founders Fund, Pantera, and Galaxy.
Meanwhile, observers report that many companies, including those in Europe, are also exploring ETH-focused reserve allocations. Although some forward-looking companies like BTCS Inc. had already started holding ETH, SharpLink's move represents a new height of mainstream adoption.
For Ethereum, the accumulation of ETH by an increasing number of corporate treasuries is undoubtedly a positive — it locks in supply (especially as most tokens will eventually be staked) and sends a signal of institutional confidence.
Meanwhile, institutions are also making moves through funds: the first Ethereum futures ETF is set to launch by the end of 2024, and the approval of a spot Ethereum ETF is also imminent, potentially releasing billions of dollars in new demand. BlackRock CEO Larry Fink stated in a CNBC interview: 'I believe launching an Ethereum ETF is valuable. This is just the first step towards asset tokenization, and I truly believe this is our future direction.'
It can be seen that Ethereum is increasingly viewed by listed companies and funds as a strategic investment and reserve asset, similar to Bitcoin's trajectory in the previous cycle.
3. Weekly technical indicators return to MA200.
Ethereum's price chart shows multiple bullish technical signals, indicating that the trend may reverse upward.
After a long period of stagnation, ETH re-emerged above the weekly MA200 in May 2025 — one of the most classic indicators of a bull market return.
From a technical perspective, Ethereum's overall market structure has improved: a series of lows are gradually being replaced by higher lows and breakthroughs of long-term descending channels.
From May to June, ETH was above the 200-week moving average, which has become a support 'launchpad' — ETH is building a bottom above it, similar to the recovery phase of past cycles.
Momentum indicators confirm a positive structure: the weekly candlestick chart shows long bodies and shallow wicks, indicating strong buying pressure and minimal selling pressure during pullbacks. The rising slope of key moving averages and the recovery trend of the MACD indicator show enhanced upward momentum. Additionally, bullish chart patterns are emerging — for instance, multiple analysts have pointed out a potential bull flag pattern on the ETH chart, which, if confirmed, could target a mid-term price above $3000.
This indicates that traders are confident in ETH, believing that downside risks have been effectively controlled, and the path of least resistance is upward. Overall, Ethereum's technical indicators have re-established above the 200-week moving average, with higher highs and lows as well as enhanced momentum, indicating that the asset is in the early stages of a significant bullish reversal that supports a positive outlook for the next 3 to 18 months.
4. Ethereum Pectra Upgrade Rapid Advancement Roadmap
Ethereum's technical roadmap is steadily advancing, continuously enhancing its foundational value. The Pectra upgrade launched on May 7, 2025 (i.e., Prague + Electra hard fork) marks the new phase for Ethereum, encompassing 11 EIPs that cover improvements from smart wallets to scalability.
Among the most iconic changes is the increase of the individual validator staking cap from 32 ETH to 2048 ETH, and recalibrating fees to significantly enhance Layer-2 throughput. These changes lower costs, improve L2 performance, accelerate the adoption of optimistic rollups and zk-rollups in the ecosystem, and clear obstacles for future L1 expansion.
Additionally, the Pectra upgrade supports account abstraction, such as gasless payments, batch transactions, etc., laying the groundwork for large-scale adoption of stablecoins, further widening the gap in user experience and flexibility compared to other public chains. As Ethereum core developer Tim Beiko summarized on April 24: 'A highlight of Pectra is EIP-7702, which makes use cases like batch transactions, gas payment, and social recovery possible without the need to migrate assets.'
At the mainnet level, Ethereum is also gradually increasing the Gas Limit from an initial 15 million to 36 million, with future increases to 60 million, significantly boosting the number of transactions processed per second on Ethereum L1 by 2–4x, reaching 60 TPS. It is predicted that after multiple expansions, Ethereum is likely to break through a triple-digit TPS. Ethereum researcher Dankrad Feist even proposed, 'We have a blueprint to increase the Gas Limit by 100 times within four years, theoretically raising Ethereum TPS to 2,000.'
At the same time, Ethereum is actively advancing zero-knowledge (ZK) integration as part of the 'Surge' roadmap phase. Upgrades like Pectra (and the upcoming Fusaka) lay the foundation for comprehensive ETH ZK implementation and ZK-based light clients.
Clearly, the core protocol of Ethereum is rapidly evolving, keeping it technically ahead of competitors.
5. Interest rate cuts on the horizon, favorable macro environment.
In the coming months, changes in the macroeconomic environment will be favorable for Ethereum. After a year of high interest rates, the market expects the Federal Reserve to shift to interest rate cuts, which could make benchmark yields fall below ETH staking returns.
According to CME Fed Watch predictions, by mid-2026, the federal funds rate will drop to 3.25% or lower. Meanwhile, Ethereum's on-chain staking yield (currently around 3.5% annualized) is expected to rise due to increased network activity and fees.
The convergence of this trend produces a 'dual shock effect': traditional risk-free yields are declining, while Ethereum's local yields are rising, potentially turning the difference between ETH staking and treasury yields positive.
If Ethereum staking can provide significantly higher returns than U.S. treasuries or savings accounts, it will enhance ETH's appeal as a high-yield and liquid asset. Staking not only yields robust returns, but ETH itself also has upside potential, making it an extremely attractive combination for investors struggling to find returns elsewhere.
Moreover, it is well known that looser Federal Reserve policies (and improved inflation outlook) tend to weaken the dollar, which historically benefits all crypto assets.
This loose monetary policy macro trend will be very favorable for ETH in the next 3 to 18 months.
6. Staking: On-chain staking and ETF staking go hand in hand.
Ethereum core researcher Justin Drake pointed out in multiple podcast interviews from 2024 to 2025: 'Ethereum staking has become fundamental to network security and economic modeling. If the U.S. approves staking ETFs, it could bring in billions of dollars in new institutional demand.'
Ethereum's transition to Proof of Stake (PoS) has opened up new dynamics around staking, with U.S. regulators gradually adopting a more open stance towards investment products utilizing staking yields. After the SEC approved multiple spot Ethereum ETFs in 2024, preparations are in place for the next phase of innovation: a U.S. staking ETF providing risk exposure to ETH plus staking yields.
Thus, the future of Ethereum staking will become a dual approach:
1. Traditional Institutional Staking: How a supported staking ETF might impact Ethereum's ecosystem and value;
2. On-chain Protocol Staking: The role of protocols like Lido and Ether.Fi in popularizing staking.
The growing participation in staking: Ethereum staking has experienced strong growth after the Merge and Shanghai upgrade. As of the first quarter of 2025, about 28% of the total supply of ETH is staked in validator nodes, reaching a historical high, reflecting strong confidence in the network.
On-chain staking is progressing simultaneously to break centralized staking.
Notably, ETH staking has not become centralized: Lido Finance remains the largest single staking provider, but its previously dominant market share (over 30%) has not continued to concentrate. The reason is that Lido actively promotes community staking (CSM) and DVT staking (SDVTM), gradually increasing its share in the Lido Staking pool, thereby dispelling past concerns about ETH staking heading towards centralization.
At the same time, the staking landscape is becoming more diversified, with new platforms like Ether.Fi seeing their staked ETH grow by about 30% over the past 6 months, with over 310,000 ETH added in the last month alone. In particular, strategies related to circular lending have shown 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 resembling a productive asset, with returns comparable to dividends or interest, even addressing Buffett's past criticisms of non-yielding assets like gold and Bitcoin. Overall, the amount of staked ETH is still at a historical high, indicating that holders view staking as an attractive long-term strategy (earning returns while protecting the network) rather than short-term speculation.
Expected U.S. staking ETF and its impact.
With spot Ethereum ETFs already trading in the U.S., a natural progression would be to launch an ETF that not only holds ETH but also participates in staking to earn yields. Such a product would be groundbreaking, providing traditional investors with risk exposure to ETH price appreciation and approximately 3–4% annualized staking returns in a single, regulated instrument. If the U.S. approves staking ETFs, the impact on Ethereum could be significant:
Increasing demand and decreasing circulation: staking ETFs may attract institutional capital and retirement accounts that prefer the convenience of ETFs. This will lock more ETH in staking contracts, effectively reducing liquidity supply in circulation, and a popular ETF may exert a 'push' effect on ETH prices.
Validating the legality of staking: especially with the new SEC chair clearly stating that 'validators and staking-as-a-service' do not fall under the jurisdiction of securities, this will send a strong signal for the approval of staking ETFs in the U.S.
Industry experts like Bloomberg's James Seyffart and ETF Store's ETF analysts predict that by the end of 2025, the SEC may allow the inclusion of staking features in ETFs for major assets like Ethereum. In short, U.S. staking ETFs seem to be a question of 'when, not if.'
Essentially, it has normalized staking in the eyes of traditional investors as a form of 'crypto dividends' or interest similar to bonds. This mainstream acceptance can broaden Ethereum's investor base, attracting not only growth investors but also those seeking income and returns.
In summary, Ethereum staking has become a core pillar of the network's value proposition, and the emergence of U.S. staking ETFs could change the game. This growing staking base reduces circulating supply and encourages long-term holding, supporting ETH's price. If regulators allow ETFs to integrate staking, it will invite a new class of investors to participate in Ethereum's yields within a familiar framework, potentially increasing demand for ETH and reinforcing its position as a yield-bearing asset.
Ebunker founder Allen Ding stated: 'As Asia's top staking service provider, I want to talk about Ethereum's potential from a node perspective. Ethereum currently has over a million nodes and thousands of node entities, making it one of the most decentralized protocols in the entire blockchain industry and even human society.'
Although Ethereum has underperformed in terms of application ecosystem vibrancy and user growth in recent years, I believe that the long-term reputation accumulated in terms of decentralization and security is its true, unassailable moat. We have recently seen many commercial companies, such as Robinhood, still choose ETH L2 to launch their on-chain securities, which offers a glimpse into Ethereum's indestructible status in people's minds.
Therefore, I boldly say, Ethereum cannot be killed — whether in the literal sense or the metaphorical sense.
7. Layer2 adoption surges as thousands of chains compete.
Ethereum's strategy of expanding through Layer-2 networks is yielding significant results. The L2 strategy has eliminated many potential new 'Ethereum killers.'
Ethereum is not competing with every emerging blockchain but empowering them as L2s, and even large enterprises are joining in. For example, Sony has launched its own Ethereum L2 blockchain, Soneium, aimed at bringing Web3 into gaming, entertainment, and finance. Sony's platform will adopt Optimism's OP Stack technology, inheriting Ethereum's security while providing customized scalability. This is the first time a global consumer tech giant has built a platform directly based on Ethereum's L2 framework, greatly validating Ethereum's strategy.
Recently, Robinhood has also joined this trend, announcing plans to build its own L2 blockchain based on Arbitrum to support its new business lines such as tokenized stocks and crypto perpetual contracts launched in the EU. As one of the most popular financial platforms in the U.S., Robinhood's participation signifies the continued appeal of Ethereum's L2 strategy to mainstream fintech companies.
Meanwhile, the L2 network Base from U.S. exchange Coinbase has seen a surge in activity since its launch in 2024. Base processes over 6 million transactions daily, even surpassing traditional L2s like Arbitrum in usage. In fact, by the end of 2024, Base accounted for about 60% of all L2 transactions, showcasing the potential for large-scale expansion of Ethereum L2 under large platform support.
Not to be outdone, Binance has also adopted Ethereum's technology — its opBNB chain is based on Optimism's L2, achieving over 4000 TPS in testing and processing 35 million transactions during the beta period. By utilizing Ethereum's EVM and OP Stack, opBNB expands Ethereum's influence into the BNB Chain ecosystem while maintaining compatibility.
The conclusion is: Ethereum's network effect is so strong that it has already turned potential competitors and large enterprises into part of its L2 superstructure at an early stage. This widespread adoption of L2 (from Sony to Robinhood, Coinbase to Binance) drives more usage and fee backflow to Ethereum, emphasizing its status as the preferred settlement layer.
8. Dual adoption by mainstream and politics.
Beyond price, broader ecosystem signals indicate that Ethereum is increasingly deeply embedded in the structures of technology, business, and even politics.
A striking example is the Trump family entering the crypto space through World Freedom Financial (WLFI). WLFI seeks to provide high-yield crypto services and digital asset trading — essentially bringing the DeFi concept to the masses.
Trump Jr. publicly predicts that WLFI has the potential to 'reshape DeFi and CeFi, fundamentally changing the finance industry,' emphasizing that 'we are just getting started.' Around the time of this tweet, WLFI spent $48 million to purchase ETH to support its DeFi business.
The involvement of the Trump family — reports indicate they own the majority of shares in WLFI and even appointed Trump himself as 'chief crypto advocate' — demonstrates that even traditional conservative figures are beginning to see the value of Ethereum-based finance, which can be viewed as an indirect recognition of Ethereum technology.
Meanwhile, the attitude of institutional investors is also undergoing a fundamental change.
In June 2025, the net inflow of Ethereum spot ETFs surpassed $1.1 billion, setting a single-month record for 2025 and accounting for over 27% of the current cumulative net inflow total ($4.18 billion), demonstrating that institutional capital is 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, Ethereum spot ETFs have recorded positive fund inflows for 19 consecutive trading days, breaking the historical record for consecutive net inflows in crypto ETFs; among them, the net inflow on June 11 alone reached $240 million, far exceeding the $165 million of Bitcoin ETFs during the same period, highlighting the market's increasing preference for ETH.
This series of changes in capital flow releases 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 possesses a diversified yield structure (staking yields, MEV capture, L2 revenue sharing),
With a more efficient path for technological upgrades (such as EIP-4844, modular architecture),
And a continuously leading developer ecosystem and application vitality.
For institutions, ETH is no longer merely a substitute for Bitcoin; it is more like a 'proof of stake in the digital financial system' — representing the underlying equity of future global network finance. This shift in role positioning is driving ETH to gradually become one of the core assets in mainstream financial allocations.
Morgan Stanley analysts recently reiterated: 'If Ethereum can continue to upgrade smoothly, more institutional investments (like a new round of ETFs) will continue to drive ETH prices higher. We still maintain a bold long-term target of $15,000.'
Moreover, this also highlights the development journey of Ethereum: from being ignored by regulators and traditional forces to now being adopted by the U.S. president. Other signals within the ecosystem are numerous: for example, PayPal has launched a stablecoin based on Ethereum (PYUSD), and Visa is using Ethereum to settle USDC payments.
Furthermore, mainstream adoption in other countries and regions outside the U.S. is also accelerating.
Since 2021, Europe, Asia, and emerging markets globally have actively adopted Ethereum in policies, finance, and technology:
Europe: After the MiCA regulation takes effect, Deutsche Bank, BNP Paribas, and others will use Ethereum as a digital bond issuance and settlement platform. French asset management giant Amundi has explicitly stated: 'Ethereum is at the core of our digital securities strategy.' In 2023, the London Stock Exchange (LSE) announced support for Ethereum-based digital asset listings. The SIX exchange in Switzerland has been offering Ethereum spot and derivatives since 2022.
Asia-Pacific: A spot ETH ETF is set to launch in Hong Kong in 2024, supporting staking, with compliant exchanges like HashKey and OSL adopting Ethereum as the underlying asset for custody. Singapore's DBS Bank has been piloting Ethereum DeFi liquidity pools since 2022, with ETH as the core collateral. Japan's Mitsubishi UFJ is leading Progmat Coin, issuing yen stablecoins on an Ethereum-compatible architecture. Australia's eAUD is also rolled out on Ethereum-compatible EVM.
Latin America and the Middle East: Brazil's central bank CBDC, UAE, and Abu Dhabi are promoting asset tokenization and digital identity, preferring Ethereum and L2 platforms.
Africa: Nigeria's central bank collaborated with ConsenSys in 2022 to promote a national payment system based on Ethereum architecture, eNaira.
These cases indicate that whether in Europe, America, or Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, Ethereum has become the preferred underlying for digital asset issuance, asset custody, compliance pilots, and corporate innovation.
As more governments, fintech companies, and enterprises worldwide integrate Ethereum into practical business, the actual demand for ETH and its real-world application will further enhance the supply-demand structure, providing broader space for the upward cycle in the next 3–18 months.
9. Vitalik's ongoing push and Ethereum Foundation reforms.
Ethereum is not only continuously breaking through on the technical and market levels, but the organizations and thought leaders behind it are also entering a new stage of development. Vitalik's ongoing research, the foundation's restructuring, the establishment of Etherealize, and the co-evolution of L1 and L2 collectively drive the Ethereum ecosystem toward a more mature and influential direction.
Vitalik: The only true leader in crypto after Satoshi.
Vitalik Buterin is hailed as 'the only true god of the post-Satoshi era.' He is not only the founder of Ethereum but also continues to influence the ecosystem as a pioneering researcher and social media figure. Currently, his focus includes:
ZK Strategy: Vitalik has established zero-knowledge proofs (ZK proof) as the core technology line for Ethereum in the next decade. He continues to push for the dominant position of ZK proofs in scalability and security while emphasizing that Ethereum cannot overly rely on a single technical path. Although the industry has achieved breakthroughs in real-time ZK proofs, Vitalik also reminds that performance optimization, auditability, and usability remain shortcomings, and ZK proofs will play a crucial role in enhancing Ethereum's efficiency and security in the long run.
RISC-V + ZK-EVM performance innovation: Vitalik advocates for a universal RISC-V virtual machine as a long-term goal, believing that if the mainnet can achieve this upgrade, execution efficiency could improve by 50–100 times or even more. Meanwhile, ZK-EVM will serve as a transitional and supplementary solution in the medium term. Through architectural innovation, Ethereum is expected to significantly outpace similar public chains in verifiability and performance, continuously strengthening its core competitiveness.
Light Node Roadmap: Vitalik promotes innovative ideas such as 'partial state nodes' that allow ordinary users to participate in network validation by retaining only the sub-states they care about, thus lowering hardware thresholds and reducing RPC centralization pressure. This direction helps improve Ethereum's level of decentralization and user participation, laying a technical foundation for broader social participation in the future.
In the crypto space, he has the second most followers on Twitter after CZ, and his voice alone is enough to influence the crypto industry and spark discussions. Vitalik continues to contribute in-depth research and frontier discussions to the industry, demonstrating his absolute dominance as a blockchain thought leader.
Foundation Restructuring: Optimization of organizational structure and promotion of core talent
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 now consists of Vitalik Buterin, Aya Miyaguchi, Swiss legal advisor Patrick Storchenegger, and newly appointed director Hsiao-Wei Wang, responsible for long-term vision and compliance oversight.
On the operational level, the foundation has introduced a 'Co-Executive Directors' model for the first time: former Protocol Support head Hsiao-Wei Wang and Nethermind founder Tomasz Stańczak will jointly be responsible for daily management; meanwhile, Bastian Aue (organizational strategy, recruitment training) and Josh Stark (project execution, market communication) have joined the management team to form horizontal collaboration.
This restructuring clearly separates decision-making power from execution power, forming a 'Board — Management' dual governance structure to disperse single-point risk, enhance execution efficiency, and provide smoother collaboration channels for core research and development (Protocol & Privacy & Scaling), ecosystem development (Ecodev), and operational support.
Overall, EF is evolving from a 'single-line' management structure to a more flat, multi-centered governance model, providing a solid foundation for Ethereum's next phase of cross L1/L2 expansion and multi-domain collaboration.
Etherealize: A new breakthrough for Wall Street strategic docking.
In January this year, the Ethereum ecosystem added an independent nonprofit organization, Etherealize. This organization is funded by the Ethereum Foundation but maintains independence in governance and operations, positioning itself as 'Ethereum's institutional market and product hub.' The Etherealize team is led by seasoned Wall Street banker Vivek Raman, with Danny Ryan officially joining as a co-founder in March.
Etherealize primarily provides research, education, and product docking services for banks, brokerages, and asset management institutions, focusing on advancing the practical application of asset tokenization, customizable L2 solutions, and zero-knowledge privacy tools. The establishment of this organization signifies Ethereum's ecosystem is moving from a purely technical community towards financial infrastructure, with targeted lobbying towards Wall Street, further solidifying ETH's position as an institutional-grade digital asset.
Shift in Technical Approach: Collaborative development of L1 and L2
While deeply cultivating L2 scalability, Ethereum is also accelerating the enhancement of the mainnet (L1) foundational performance. Vitalik Buterin pointed out in a Decrypt interview on June 2 this year: 'I believe that we should scale the Ethereum mainnet by about 10 times in the coming year.'
The most intuitive progress is the dynamic adjustment of the Gas Limit, raising the mainnet Gas Limit from 15 million to 36 million in 2024, with hopes of increasing to 60 million after entering the voting phase in 2025, allowing the ETH mainnet's peak TPS to rise to 60, achieving a historical fourfold increase.
Unlike Bitcoin's fixed block size, Ethereum's Gas Limit is dynamically voted on by all validators and can be adjusted without hard forks, enhancing on-chain governance flexibility and community participation. Recent radical proposals like EIP-9698 have suggested significantly increasing the Gas Limit in the coming years, but the community overall prefers to balance progress between security, decentralization, and performance.
Latest testing indicates that a 60 million Gas Limit is manageable for the performance of most nodes and block propagation delays, laying a solid foundation for future L1+L2 collaboration and scenarios serving hundreds of millions of users.
10. Token Economics: The theory of ultrasonic money still works.
Ethereum's native tokenomics continue to strengthen its investment value. Ethereum's 'ultrasonic money' theory is being realized: transaction fee burning often exceeds the new issuance, and during high activity periods, ETH supply even shows net deflation. Since the London upgrade, over 4.6 million ETH have been burned, continuously reducing circulating supply.
From a supply perspective, higher staking participation does slightly increase the protocol's issuance (more validators = more reward ETH released), but since transitioning to PoS, Ethereum's issuance remains far below that of the proof-of-work (PoW) era — approximately 700,000 ETH issued annually (corresponding to 30 million staked ETH), compared to 4.5 million ETH under the old mining system.
From a consumption perspective, on-chain activity remains strong — Ethereum consistently processes tens of billions of dollars in transactions daily, covering DeFi, NFTs, and payments, far exceeding any other smart contract chain. Even during a bear market, this healthy network usage indicates that Ethereum's practicality (and thus the demand for ETH as fuel fees) is on a steady upward trend.
Even with about 28% staking participation, the annual ETH issuance through staking accounts for only about 0.5–1% of the supply, and during high network activity periods under the EIP-1559 fee burning mechanism, net deflation of ETH supply can still be observed.
In fact, Ethereum's net issuance hovers around zero, and at times it is even deflationary, depending on network fees. In cases where the burning mechanism offsets costs, Ethereum's monetary policy can be described as deflationary or neutral in many situations. Thus, as staking grows, Ethereum's 'inflation rate' remains low while 'yield' remains high, locking up more ETH to protect the network, achieving 'wanting it all.'
As L2 adoption (as mentioned earlier) drives more transactions to settle on L1, Ethereum's fee revenue (and thus ETH's burn volume) should continue to grow. Overall, Ethereum's supply-demand situation is very bullish in the medium term: effective supply is decreasing while demand from network users and long-term stakers/investors is rising.
Conclusion
Looking at the four dimensions of regulation, technology, capital, and macro factors, Ethereum is entering a 'compounding interval at a turning point.' When the policy ceiling is pried open, protocol performance continues to iterate, institutional allocation shifts from exploration to strategy, and global liquidity is once again loosened — these four forces are not isolated overlays but are coupled and resonate exponentially.
History tells us: truly game-changing assets often undergo valuation reconstruction before consensus solidifies. Now, ten core reasons have lined up, illustrating a clear timeline — from compliance release to treasury accounting, from Pectra upgrade to staking ETF, from L2 expansion to deflationary monetary policy. All signals point to the same answer: ETH is no longer just 'the opportunity of the next stage,' but rather 'the most certain increment of the present.' The market will ultimately price this logic — the only question remaining is whether you will choose to turn the last page before or after the story is finished.
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Continuously monitoring: MAGIC M