tl;dr
Ethereum, marking its tenth anniversary, has driven innovations in DeFi, NFTs, and DAOs, expanding to users in over 80 countries with millions of transactions. Despite institutional adoption, competitors challenge its dominance. Experts say Ethereum must evolve infrastructure maturity, focusing on i...
It’s already been ten years since Ethereum launched and brought significant innovation to the blockchain ecosystem. Within this time, the network has pioneered the growth of decentralized finance (DeFi), non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs). As Ethereum celebrates its tenth anniversary, industry experts reflect on its journey and what the next decade holds in store.
Ethereum introduced programmability and smart contracts to blockchain technology. Its user base has expanded to at least 80 countries, with millions of transactions processed. However, competitors are challenging its leading position. While the project has seen recent institutional adoption, staying relevant over the next ten years may be difficult.
Jamie Elkaleh, CMO at Bitget Wallet, believes Ethereum must continuously re-earn its position as the default layer-1 (L1) blockchain. Infrastructure maturity, rather than a single “killer app,” will determine its future. Elkaleh highlights interoperability and composability as Ethereum’s key differentiators. To maintain its status as the “center of gravity in a multi-chain world,” Ethereum needs to reduce friction with layer-2 (L2) solutions and focus on faster, cheaper transactions, improved cross-chain user experience (UX), and security sharing.
Regarding Ethereum’s technical roadmap, Elkaleh points to challenges in velocity rather than direction. While upgrades address L1 limitations and improve L2 scalability, competing ecosystems are ahead in UX and speed. “Ethereum’s upgrades are often technically elegant but operationally complex,” he notes, warning that without faster developer execution, Ethereum risks lagging behind on user experience.
Steven Pu, co-founder of Taraxa, an Ethereum Virtual Machine-compatible network, advocates for Ethereum to stop relying heavily on L2 chains, which he describes as “centralized, insecure, and parasitic tourists.” Pu urges scaling the L1 chain directly to make it faster and cheaper, especially as next-generation L1 blockchains emerge. He hopes for a course correction soon.
Key questions remain: Will Ethereum maintain its status as the second-largest blockchain or be overtaken by more efficient networks? Can it balance decentralization with increasing user demand? Most importantly, will ether reach new highs and deliver substantial value to investors? Only time will tell.