Ethereum has declined, PVP is prevalent. I miss the summer of 2020.

Jessy (@susanliu33), Golden Finance

Vitalik has been missing on X for over 20 days.

In the past 20 days, the price of Ethereum has repeatedly broken investors' psychological barriers. On March 12, the ETH to BTC exchange rate hit a new low, dropping to 0.022676, marking the lowest point since June 2020. The ETH to BTC exchange rate continues to decline, with huge whales from the ICO era fleeing, retail investors panicking, and constant FUD.

In February, a quarrel broke out within the Ethereum community, which wanted Vitalik to lower his noble head and see what the industry was playing at the moment. In the face of criticism, Vitalik said that he does not think that the current prevailing PVP is the best product of blockchain, and that he and Ethereum insist on making a better product.

During the more than 20 days that Vitalik has been absent from the network, the two founders of Binance, CZ and He Yi, have taken the lead in playing memes on X, leveraging the investment from Abu Dhabi's investment agency in Binance to initiate a "white cloth market" for memes on the BSC chain.

In this cycle, the Meme track is booming and PVP is prevalent, with frenzied gambling emotions permeating the crypto community. In addition, a broader sense of confusion hangs over the crypto community, as the true innovations that can lead the industry to thrive have disappeared.

The industry is desolate, and Memes have become the main narrative. People are starting to reminisce about the summer of 2020 when DeFi was booming on Ethereum.

Previously called "V God", now called "Little V"

Once, people called him "V God" and regarded him as a spiritual leader, relying on him to guide the direction of cryptocurrency development. Now people call him "Little V" and want him to "get out" of Ethereum.

The last time Vitalik was in the spotlight was in early February. At that time, the community was full of voices about Ethereum FUD. In the face of people's skepticism, rational advice, or emotional abuse, Vitalik finally responded on X, to the effect that he did not agree that the current PVP model was the best product, and that he was pursuing a better product. And in the face of everyone's requirements and responsibilities for the innovation of the Ethereum Foundation, Vitalik also expressed his tiredness about the advice of people who know nothing about the foundation.

Vitalik became the target of criticism, which was unimaginable two years ago.

Groups often crave powerful leaders and urgently need someone to worship, gaining psychological support and guidance from them. This drives them to deify individuals, magnifying their virtues to create an all-powerful "god." Once this constructed "god" fails to meet the public's excessively high expectations, the shift in group attitudes can be extremely swift and brutal. They instantly transition from blind worship to fierce criticism, forcefully bringing the "god" down from the pedestal and expressing their disappointment and anger through insults and slander.

Vitalik has gone through a complete process of being created and destroyed by the crypto community. Once, within the crypto community, Vitalik's words and ideas pointed the way for the crypto industry. Vitalik is willing to publish various ideas, such as SBTs in the early years, cyber countries, etc., all of which are concepts proposed or strongly supported by Vitalik, and it is under Vitalik's vigorous promotion that these new concepts were sought after and practiced by project parties in the industry at that time, and became a trend.

Especially during bear markets, major project teams will strategically lay out tracks that will explode during bull markets. At that time, Vitalik was optimistic about Web3 social, and entrepreneurs flocked to it, but after a period of popularity during the bear market, it all cooled down.

The bull market has arrived, but the directions pointed out by Vitalik during the bear market have not led to a significant explosion in application at the bull market. Chaos and confusion have become the feelings of most project teams.

There has been no real innovation, no new narrative to invigorate the industry, and the grandeur of the DeFi Summer that once happened on Ethereum has not reappeared in the crypto industry.

The infrastructure of blockchain has been completed, and the highways have been built, but there are no cars to drive on them. The core contradiction of the blockchain industry is no longer related to infrastructure. Rather, it is about what changes blockchain can bring to human life or the products of the world. What is the answer to this question?

If the answer is payment, then Bitcoin provided that answer back in 2008. If the answer is DeFi, then Ethereum provided that answer in 2020. The most practical application in the cryptocurrency space right now can be said to be stablecoins, which are genuinely changing the traditional world in various fields such as cross-border payments.

Other than these, is there no innovation in the blockchain industry? In this cycle, the asset launch platform on each chain is popular, which is nothing more than an innovation in the way assets are issued, and the core of the casino has a new coat. Another one that everyone is optimistic about is the blockchain AI track, which has raised a lot of money, but the bubble has been punctured by the emergence of Deepseek. A more prominent problem in this track is that the main body of the narrative is still AI, and blockchain technology can help AI Agents obtain on-chain identities, build economic systems, etc., but they are always matching AI. The track is not crypto-native.

In the wilderness, casinos are considered to be the best products in the crypto industry. In the face of the advice of many, Vitalik himself and Ethereum were able to devote themselves more to the "casino" game. Vitalik refused, "If I look inside me, I will find something worth fighting for." ”

Vitalik has also enjoyed the feeling of being idolized, and when he was brought down from that pedestal, people saw his human side. This human side, in the eyes of some, is stubborn, arrogant, and dismissive of others' opinions. But it was also these traits that led him to create Ethereum.

The passion of youth that makes time fly can change the world

Carl Jung once said, "When you are young, what can make time fly by and make you happy, and the answer is what you seek in this world." ”

For Vitalik, something worth fighting for has long been written about in his childhood. Vitalik received a computer from his father at the age of 4, and while the other children played computer games, he was obsessed with Excel and would soon be able to write automatic calculation programs in Excel. At the age of 7, he created a "rabbit encyclopedia" document full of diagrams and mathematical formulas, and was soon determined to have a talent for mathematics and programming; At the age of 10, his three-digit mental arithmetic speed was more than double that of his peers; At the age of 11, he began to learn subjects such as mathematics, programming and economics in advance in the "Gifted Youth Class......

The programming technology itself makes Vitalik happy, and his pursuit is to change the world with technology. Compared to some speculators in the cryptocurrency space, he is relatively conservative.

In 2018, Ethereum plummeted and faced skepticism from the community. Vitalik issued a warning – not to let Ethereum become a "tulip" for speculators to profit from. At that time, just like now, Vitalik also considered leaving Ethereum, asking, "Should I drop Ethereum and work for Google?"

Doubts about Ethereum always arise during times of low coin prices. In the face of community criticism and abuse, Vitalik often thinks about "leaving".

Vitalik has always had his own persistence. His commitment to technology and vigilance against "bubbles" has never changed. It is precisely these commitments that have brought transformation and innovation to the crypto world.

Looking back at the history of cryptocurrency development, the most important innovations that have led the industry over the past decade have largely occurred on Ethereum, known as the "world computer": Ethereum has widely adopted smart contracts, providing a platform for the prosperity of innovative financial mechanisms such as liquidity mining for DeFi, the establishment of various layer two solutions like Rollups and Plasma, and the practice of governance models like Dao, among others.

At present, more and more major institutions such as the Trump family's DeFi project, Sony's Layer 2, and Deutsche Bank's Layer 2 are building Web3 applications and infrastructure solutions on Ethereum. The Ethereum ecosystem is mature and leading in terms of technical resource reserves, development team support, on-chain capital volume, and client security.

Moreover, Vitalik is not only implementing his technological ideals through Ethereum, but he also places his social ideals on Ethereum, which is not limited to Ethereum alone. The concepts he advocates, such as decentralization, resistance to censorship, and Quadratic Voting, relate to democratic practices, internet structure, and commercial and public welfare organizations. This broadens his influence beyond the cryptocurrency community.

Is Ethereum really doomed?

Is there still something to look forward to in Ethereum? The answer is yes.

In April, Ethereum will usher in the mainnet launch of the Pectra upgrade. This incorporates changes to the execution layer (Prague upgrade) and consensus layer (Electra upgrade). Pectra has introduced 11 key Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) designed to enhance scalability, staking flexibility, and user experience. Overall, after this upgrade, the performance and stability of the Ethereum network will be improved at the technical level; At the economic level, the staking economic model of Ethereum has been changed, which will affect the supply and demand relationship and market price of Ethereum; At the application level, it can attract more developers and users to the Ethereum ecosystem, promote the innovation and development of decentralized applications, and so on.

In the United States, a stakable Ethereum spot ETF may also be approved. In the first quarter of 2025, asset management company 21Shares submitted an application on behalf of the CBOE BZX exchange, planning to introduce staking features to its spot Ethereum ETF. In addition, Fidelity submitted an S-1 form for its proposed Ethereum spot ETF, which includes staking features. Grayscale has also applied to provide staking features for its spot Ethereum ETF.

The implementation of the Pectra upgrade is expected to shorten the unbinding period for Ethereum staking, which was a significant obstacle when staking was initially introduced for spot ETFs.

This upgrade may become a catalyst for the approval of the staking ETF.

There is a consensus in the industry that one of the main reasons for the weak attractiveness of Ethereum spot ETFs is that the current ETFs do not have a staking function. The launch of the staking function will allow holders of Ethereum spot ETFs to receive rewards for staking Ethereum. After staking, investors will receive an annualized reward of 3~3.5%. With the launch of the stakeable Ethereum spot ETF, it may greatly increase the inflow of funds into the Ethereum spot ETF, thereby pushing up the price of Ethereum.

Both of these are substantial positives for the foreseeable Ethereum price this year.

But the other truth is that the upcoming expected changes in Ethereum are merely improvements along a foreseeable path. These changes are just about making the highway wider and smoother. This is not a disruptive industry innovation, nor is it a groundbreaking product or application.

The use cases of Ethereum have actually reached their peak. In this cycle, there haven't been any projects on the Ethereum main chain that have seen widespread public participation, and the price has not exceeded previous highs. Its TVL has remained at its highest level since 2021.

It used to be the first choice for building a smart contract platform, but now, when the infrastructure of the blockchain world has developed completely, and there are more and more user-friendly and cheap platform public chains to choose from, Ethereum is no longer the only one. In this cycle, public chains such as Solana, Sui, and TON have developed their own ecological characteristics. The head Ethereum Layer 2, such as Base, has also made its own achievements.

Vitalik's decentralization is a good thing for an industry; the industry's development matures, and Ethereum is no longer the sole leader. More emerging players can compete with it, which can stimulate a richer ecosystem. As the blockchain ecosystem becomes more abundant, Ethereum's importance in the industry will inevitably decline.

Vitalik once said in an interview with End Media, "My life is about being a bridge for everything." Since 2015, the Ethereum Foundation has spent more on external funding than on internal operational costs. These grants have allowed Ethereum to connect more teams and have promoted the development of various projects in the crypto industry. Whether it's Ethereum itself or what Vitalik is doing, it's all about laying the foundation for crypto.

Neither Ethereum nor Vitalik himself should bear the confusion and anger of people regarding the lack of innovation in the entire industry.

"If you look inside yourself, you will find things worth fighting for too." Vitalik, who knows what he should fight for, will return again after a brief disappointment.

In the crypto community, those who feel lost and angry, after questioning their inner selves, will also make a choice: to stay and be a "builder," patiently creating something new in the desolation, or to leave and rush to the next opportunity to continue being a shrewd "speculator."