Vitalik Talks About the Current State and Future Development of Ethereum

Recently, Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin participated in a Chinese AMA event, sharing his views on Ethereum's technology, ecosystem, and future directions. Here are the main points of his perspective:

Ethereum's Positioning

Vitalik believes that Ethereum is both a digital asset for long-term value storage and an underlying platform that supports global application interoperability. These two positions are compatible with each other. The meaning of "world computer" is "a place where applications of the world can operate with each other," not "a computer that can simultaneously support every application in the world."

The decentralization and resilience of Ethereum are its core advantages. Vitalik proposed a simple test: if the foundation disappears, can the blockchain continue to operate? He believes that currently, only Bitcoin and Ethereum can clearly answer "yes."

The Relationship Between L1 and L2

Vitalik stated that Ethereum is currently adopting a "hybrid L1+L2" scaling solution. L1 needs to maintain sufficient throughput so that anyone in need can directly interact with the mainnet. Meanwhile, L2 takes on more performance scaling and scenario innovation tasks.

He believes that L2 cannot be fully relied upon, because:

1. This may cause Ether to lose its position as a medium of exchange and a store of value.
2. Cross-L2 operations still require L1 support.
3. Users need to be able to transfer to other L2s when there is a problem with L2.

In the short term, Ethereum should continue to enhance its L1 capabilities, increase blob space, and promote cross-L2 interoperability, allowing the market to decide which scaling method is suitable for which application.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Centralized Sequencers

The centralized sequencer has the following advantages:

• Can prevent frontrunning and other actions that are detrimental to users.
• Instant pre-confirmation can be achieved, facilitating the transition of traditional applications to blockchain.
• You can avoid sequencer censorship of users by mechanisms such as forced inclusion.

However, centralized sequencers still carry risks, so they cannot be relied upon completely. It is necessary to maintain the ability to transact based on rollups or directly on L1. Vitalik supports the simultaneous advancement of both solutions in the ecosystem to see which one is more suitable for different applications.

The Future Development of Ethereum

Vitalik stated that there is currently no so-called "ETH 3.0" plan. The balance between L1 and L2 is a problem facing the execution layer. The future roadmap includes:

• Enhance L1 capabilities ( increase gas limits, introduce stateless validation, etc. )
• Enhance cross-L2 interoperability
• Increase blob space, etc.

He believes that the question of whether L2 provides enough transaction fees for L1 should not be viewed too short-term. With the implementation of EIP-4844, blob fees will increase significantly. It is necessary to strengthen L1 so that things that should happen on L1 can happen, while maintaining the adaptability of the community.

The Positioning of the Ethereum Foundation

Vitalik emphasizes that Ethereum is a decentralized ecosystem rather than a company. The foundation should not pursue corporate governance and profit, but should focus on supporting public goods, setting technical standards, and maintaining ecological balance.

The foundation adopts a "subtraction philosophy", which means providing assistance when ecological imbalances arise, and withdrawing once the issues are resolved. This requires the foundation to enhance its capabilities in certain areas, rather than being completely inactive.

Attracting Developers

Vitalik believes that three problems need to be solved simultaneously:

1. Attract more developers
2. Encourage the development of more open-source, secure, standards-compliant applications with long-term value.
3. Avoid the ecosystem becoming a closed circle

He proposed several methods:

• Strengthen education to help developers better understand the essence of blockchain.
• The foundation can develop some underlying tools to lower the development threshold.
• Provide developers with clear standards and testing frameworks

Applications in Non-Financial Fields

Vitalik is very interested in the application of zero-knowledge proofs in non-financial areas, such as:

• Anti-witchcraft attack verification
• AI applications for privacy protection
• Wrap Web2 accounts into Web3 accounts for use

He believes that these technologies can solve many social problems by protecting personal freedom and privacy.

Ideal Blockchain Applications

Vitalik proposed three criteria for evaluating applications:

1. Can you imagine yourself or someone you know willing to use
2. Can be profitable
3. Truly valuable to the world

He believes that there are currently very few applications that can meet these three points simultaneously and calls for an additional 10 successful cases.

Conclusion

Vitalik stated that Ethereum needs some new narratives to clarify the meaning of its existence. He plans to focus on supporting areas such as informational finance, privacy protection, and financing high-quality public goods in the near future, while continuing to improve its role as a global open financial platform. These areas can create value for users and align with the values that Ethereum has always upheld.