PART1

What’s Next for Ethereum: Beyond the Price Hype

This year, for the first time, I decided to not skim through the Messari report but instead dive into it deeply, exploring every section and following dozens of cross-references to related articles.
Honestly, I still haven’t finished reading the entire report! But I must admit, this approach brings an entirely different kind of satisfaction.

So, while I can’t offer a full summary just yet, here are some subjective takeaways on Ethereum.

The Eternal Question: When Will ETH Go to the Moon?

Many of us, myself included, are eagerly waiting for ETH's price to skyrocket. 🫨
Yet in 2024, Ethereum has faced relentless criticism. The core argument is that ETH, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, seems stuck between two narratives:

Bitcoin's narrative of being "new money."The rise of new blockchains positioned as innovation hubs for the entire Web3 space.

In short, it feels like Ethereum in 2024 is neither here nor there. 🤨

But here’s the problem: people are looking at the wrong things.☝️

The Current Narrative: The Wrong Lens

Most discussions revolve around a single logical chain of thought:

Fast and cheap networks (e.g., Solana, Sui, Aptos) are more attractive to users, leading to higher transaction volumes.Higher transaction volumes boost the value of those networks' tokens (e.g., SOL, APT, SUI).While Ethereum is also accelerating through Layer 2 (L2) solutions (e.g., Base, zkSync, Starknet), this doesn’t directly increase ETH’s value because:Transaction fees (gas) primarily accumulate on the L2 level and only partially reach Ethereum's Layer 1 (L1).The growing number of specialized L2 networks leads to user challenges and liquidity fragmentation.

This logic is sound—if we assume the development process ends here. But we’re far from the finish line. 👀