Ethereum Turns 10: What Will Define the Next Decade?

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, CryptoPotato has obtained exclusive commentary from a few industry experts. Their opinions address questions about the blockchain’s journey so far and what the next decade holds in store.

Ethereum at 10

Ethereum introduced programmability and smart contracts to blockchain. While the network’s user base has expanded to at least 80 countries, and its transaction count is running into millions, competitors are challenging its leading position in the industry.

Although the project has recently been seeing institutional adoption, it may struggle to stay relevant over the next ten years. Jamie Elkaleh, CMO at Bitget Wallet, is of the opinion that Ethereum will have to continuously re-earn its position as the default layer-1 (L1) blockchain. Only infrastructure maturity will shape the network’s future, not some “killer app.”

According to Elkaleh, Ethereum’s differentiators will be interoperability and composability. The network needs to distance itself from layer-2 (L2) chain friction and focus on facilitating faster and cheaper transactions. Additionally, the network needs to prioritize cross-chain user experience (UX) and security sharing so that it can remain the “center of gravity in a multi-chain world.”

When asked about the quality of Ethereum’s technical roadmap, the Bitget Wallet CMO said the challenge is velocity, not direction. While the roadmap tackles L1 limitations and L2 scalability through upgrades, competing ecosystems are leading in UX and speed.

“Ethereum’s upgrades are often technically elegant but operationally complex,” he said, adding that the network risks falling behind on the UX front, unless developers accelerate execution.

Refocusing on The Core L1

In his commentary, Steven Pu, co-founder of the Ethereum Virtual Machine-compatible network Taraxa, emphasized the need for Ethereum to stop relying on L2 chains. He called them “centralized, insecure, and parasitic tourists,” while insisting that the best way to improve the network would be to scale the L1 chain itself.

Essentially, Ethereum needs to focus on itself to become faster and cheaper, especially with next-generation L1 chains emerging every now and then.

“We hope there’ll be a course change soon,” Pu stated.

Will Ethereum continue to be the second-largest blockchain or be overtaken by more efficient networks? Will the ecosystem continue to deliver on decentralization while keeping up with user demands? And more importantly, will ether reach new highs and deliver significant value to investors? Only time will tell.