Source: Dao Blockchain
I have expressed my regret more than once about Ethereum’s performance in this round of the market. However, my disappointment is not primarily about the price. Since I am bullish on Ethereum in the long term, I actually prefer lower prices, ideally staying below my predetermined investment price for the long term.
What disappoints me the most is that Ethereum’s ecosystem has not seen the explosive innovation and applications that emerged during the previous bull market. Taking advantage of the Dragon Boat Festival holiday, I carefully read several articles by Vitalik on second-layer scaling from last year and this year.
From his articles, I seem to catch a glimpse of the future. Vitalik is very clear in his stance on Ethereum’s second-layer scaling: he hopes that the majority of applications will eventually run on second-layer scaling solutions. He does not view Ethereum’s second-layer scaling merely as a performance enhancement, but as individual blockchain “countries” under Ethereum’s control, each with its own culture, personality, characteristics, applications, and ecosystem.
Looking at it from this perspective, I have changed my previous viewpoint. I used to think that there were too many second-layer scaling solutions now, with existing ones not fully utilized, and new solutions emerging constantly. But now I believe that although technically similar, these solutions have developed unique characteristics and communities based on culture and personality.
For example, Base hosts active social (MEME) applications, Arbitrum has high-quality applications growing rapidly, Optimism has more institutional support, and future platforms like Treasure and Redstone may host gaming applications. As these ecosystems develop their unique traits, they will attract similar applications, strengthening their features.
In the future, Ethereum could potentially have numerous communities and groups existing in the form of second-layer scaling solutions. These entities will have their own culture, values, and community atmospheres. While current communities focus on issuing tokens (NFTs, MEMEs), future communities may focus on issuing chains (second-layer scaling) – a trend that is already visible in the Ethereum ecosystem with chains like Degen and Ham.
This trend suggests that Ethereum’s future will not just be an ecosystem but a federation of blockchain-based network states, with Ethereum as the ultimate governing authority. This governing authority ensures transaction finality and execution, while the federated states are free to grow and innovate.
This freedom and growth provide the best soil for nurturing innovation and disruption. In the previous bull market, we celebrated various application scenarios within the Ethereum ecosystem, such as DeFi, NFTs, and games. However, all these innovations were born within the Ethereum ecosystem.
I speculate that the next wave of innovation in the Ethereum ecosystem will come from countless sub-chains based on second-layer scaling solutions – a burst that will not be individual application scenarios but a burst based on chain ecosystems. This burst will resonate around a specific theme or culture; once a chain ecosystem erupts due to a theme or culture, all applications on that chain (including DeFi, NFTs, etc.) will burst together.
As for the specific culture or theme, I cannot imagine it right now. This burst is triggered by a theme or culture that takes time to develop – perhaps this is why we have not seen new applications or scenarios emerging in the Ethereum ecosystem during this market cycle. The gradual growth of culture and atmosphere in Ethereum’s second-layer scaling solutions may be laying the foundation and cultivating new momentum for Ethereum’s next burst of innovation.