Ethereum's mission remains unchanged since its inception: to build a global, censorship-resistant, permissionless blockchain—a free and open platform for decentralized applications. This vision is rooted in the same principles that powered pioneering open-source projects like GNU + Linux, Mozilla, Tor, and Wikipedia—ideals we might now call regenerative and cypherpunk values.
Over the past decade, Ethereum has evolved into more than just a technological innovation. It has become a social technology, demonstrating in real time how open, decentralized collaboration can outperform traditional centralized systems. As political philosopher Ahmed Gatnash reflected on his experience at Devcon:
“…a glimpse of what another world could be like—a world with almost no gatekeepers, no legacy systems. In the inversion of social status hierarchies, the highest-status people are the nerds who spend all their time deeply focused on independently solving problems they genuinely care about, rather than playing games to climb the ladder in legacy institutions and accumulate power. Almost all power here is soft power. I found it beautiful, inspiring—it makes you feel that everything is possible in such a world, and that such a world is actually within reach.”
Technology and social dynamics are deeply intertwined. A decentralized system at time T cannot remain so at T+1 without decentralized governance. Conversely, social movements thrive through technology—users bring vitality, ecosystems incentivize developers, and shared tools keep communities grounded in building, not just talking.
Today, Ethereum is delivering real utility at scale. Millions use ETH or stablecoins for savings and payments—I’m one of them. Privacy tools let me securely pay for internet protection. Ethereum Name Service (ENS) offers a robust decentralized alternative to DNS and public-key infrastructure. Decentralized social platforms provide censorship-resistant communication. DeFi protocols deliver safer yields than traditional finance.
Five years ago, I hesitated to highlight these use cases—smart contract vulnerabilities were still fresh, high gas fees limited access, and security concerns loomed large. But today, infrastructure has matured. Audit tools are better, failure patterns are understood, and Layer 2 (L2) scaling has slashed costs. We’re now at a turning point: Ethereum must continue strengthening both its technical foundation and social fabric to fulfill its promise.
👉 Discover how blockchain scalability is shaping the future of decentralized finance.
The Rise of Layer 2s
Ethereum’s primary scaling path today is Layer 2 protocols (L2s). The L2 landscape in 2025 is vastly different from the experimental phase of 2019. Modern L2s have achieved key decentralization milestones, secure billions in value, and collectively increase Ethereum’s transaction capacity by 17x—with similarly reduced fees.
Leading platforms like Base now account for nearly 40% of Ethereum’s total capacity, proving that modular, user-driven expansion works. This growth fuels real-world adoption: DeFi platforms, social networks, prediction markets, and even “worldchain” ecosystems with over 10 million users are thriving.
The success of L2s validates Ethereum’s decentralized, modular approach. Unlike top-down models where a foundation must onboard every user, Ethereum empowers dozens of independent teams to innovate and attract users. These teams contribute code, research, and infrastructure—accelerating progress far beyond what any single entity could achieve.
We’re approaching escape velocity: a self-sustaining ecosystem where value creation fuels further innovation.
Key Challenges: Scale and Heterogeneity
Despite progress, two major challenges remain:
1. Scale: Blob Space Constraints
Current blob capacity—enabled by EIP-4844—is nearly saturated. With only 3 blobs per slot (384 kB), Ethereum supports roughly 210 transactions per second. While Pectra (March 2025) will double this to 6 blobs per slot, future demand will require more.
Forsaga’s focus on PeerDAS could multiply blob capacity another 2–3x. Long-term, 2D data sampling may allow 128 blobs per slot, enabling up to 100,000 TPS with compression.
👉 Learn how next-gen blockchain upgrades are unlocking massive throughput.
2. Heterogeneity: Fragmented User Experience
Early scaling visions imagined homogeneous shards—identical EVM copies processed by subsets of nodes. L2s deliver this in spirit but differ in practice: each chain has unique standards, governance, and tech stacks.
This diversity creates interoperability friction for developers and users. Moving assets or composing apps across chains feels clunky—like navigating 34 separate blockchains instead of one unified ecosystem.
The Way Forward: A Multi-Pronged Strategy
To overcome these hurdles, we must pursue coordinated upgrades across L1 and L2:
Accelerate Blob Scaling
- Prioritize blob expansion over non-critical L1 features.
- Invest in p2p research to support higher data throughput.
- Allow validators to adjust blob targets dynamically—similar to gas limits—for faster adaptation.
- Explore aggressive scaling models with acceptable trust assumptions for light clients.
Enhance L2 Security
Today’s L2s fall into three categories:
- Stage 1 (Optimism, Arbitrum, Ink): Fraud-proof secured.
- Stage 2 (DeGate, zk.money, Fuel): ZK-proof secured.
- Stage 0: Multisig-guarded (still dominant).
To advance security:
- Adopt multi-prover ZK systems + formal verification for redundancy.
- Develop native rollups—integrating EVM state validation directly into the protocol via precompiles.
- Support flexible precompiles that accommodate modified EVMs (e.g., custom opcodes), letting L2s "bring their own prover" only for changes.
Standardize Interoperability
The goal: seamless cross-L2 experience, as if chains were shards of one network.
Key steps:
- Chain-aware addresses: Include chain identifiers in account formats (e.g., ERC-3770 evolution).
- Trust-minimized bridges: Standardize message passing without third-party trust.
- Faster deposits/withdrawals: Target sub-minute finality via faster ZK-EVM provers and aggregation.
- L1-to-L2 synchronous reads: Enable L2s to read L1 state directly (e.g., L1SLOAD).
- Shared sequencing: Improve efficiency and consistency across rollups.
Heterogeneity is valuable—but only if users understand the security trade-offs.
Secure ETH’s Economic Role
As L2s grow, ETH must retain value accrual:
- Establish ETH as the primary asset across the Ethereum ecosystem.
- Incentivize L2s to burn or donate a portion of fees to public goods.
- Support rollups-on-rollups as a path for L1 to capture MEV value.
- Treat blob fees as a potential revenue stream. Example: At 128 blobs/slot, Ethereum could burn 713,000 ETH/year under steady demand.
But don’t rely on any single mechanism—diversify value accrual models.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Why not scale Ethereum L1 directly with higher gas limits?
A: While technically possible, it risks centralization by favoring powerful nodes. The L2 model preserves decentralization by distributing load while empowering diverse innovation.
Q: What are “native rollups” and why do they matter?
A: Native rollups embed ZK or fraud-proof verification into Ethereum’s core protocol. This enhances security, reduces trust assumptions, and allows standardized validation across diverse L2s.
Q: How can users benefit from faster withdrawals?
A: Faster withdrawals mean near-instant access to funds when moving between L2s and L1—critical for DeFi agility, trading, and emergency liquidity needs.
Q: Will too many L2s create fragmentation?
A: Only if standards are ignored. With universal address formats, messaging protocols, and shared security primitives, fragmentation turns into healthy diversification.
Q: Can Ethereum really reach 100,000 TPS?
A: Yes—through data availability scaling (blob growth), compression techniques like Danksharding, and efficient ZK proofs. The path is clear; execution is the challenge.
Q: How does ETH maintain value if most activity moves to L2s?
A: Through fee burning (e.g., blob fees), ecosystem-wide adoption as collateral, L2 fee-sharing mechanisms, and MEV capture via nested rollups.
👉 See how ETH’s evolving role supports long-term value growth in a multi-layer ecosystem.
Conclusion: A Shared Responsibility
Ethereum has matured into a resilient technical stack and vibrant social ecosystem—poised to empower hundreds of millions with financial freedom and digital sovereignty. But this future isn’t guaranteed.
- L2 developers: Contribute to blob scalability, EVM enhancements, and interoperability standards.
- Wallet builders: Implement unified standards for seamless, secure cross-chain UX.
- ETH holders & community members: Engage in discussions—many challenges still demand collective imagination.
The path forward requires all of us. Ethereum’s strength has always been its people. Let’s keep building—together.