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Cryptocurrency entersEntering “Adolescent”
Recently, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin gave a speech at the TOKEN2049 conference, discussing topics such as the availability of cryptocurrencies, the use of cryptocurrencies as a means of payment, and the security of the entire ecosystem.He believes that cryptocurrencies are no longer the initial stage of development, but their availability is still in its early stages and actual availability is increasing.Cryptocurrencies have entered their “teenage” years, but are still slow to develop in terms of usability, largely due to previous high transaction fees and clumsy user interfaces.
The success of Ethereum L2 and its low fees
Vitalik said that during previous peak network congestion, Ethereum gas fees had soared to more than $200.In the past, he was forced to pay more than $800 for a single transaction to protect the privacy of his transactions, but this situation no longer exists, thanks to the development of Ethereum L2.L2’s transfer of some transactions from the mainnet to the second-tier blockchain is crucial to reducing the cost of the Ethereum mainnet and improving its scalability.
Recently, voices in the industry have questioned the development of Ethereum L2 weakened Ethereum L1, but, according to vitalik, the low transaction fees of L2 are an important milestone in the entire Ethereum ecosystem as it addresses the main challenges of mainstream adoption.Currently, the ecology of L2 such as Optimism and Abritrum is thriving precisely because they have successfully reduced their fees to less than $0.1.Not only that, rollups has achieved this milestone, making transactions safer and users can afford their cheap fees.
Meet mainstream needs while maintaining decentralization
In addition to transaction costs, Vitalik also talked about the success of Ethereum in trading “time”.After the merge and the transition to PoS proof of stake, the average waiting time for the next block was successfully reduced by half, which reduced the transaction waiting time to 5 to 15 seconds, transactions on the Ethereum L2 networkThe time dropped to about 1 second.
Vitalik also mentioned that another common challenge in the cryptocurrency industry is to meet demand while maintaining decentralization.
It is worth noting that Vitalik recently posted a post on X, hoping that Ethereum L2 will be more decentralized.He believes that in practice, L2 should inherit the security of L1 on which they are based.The current problem is that although Ethereum L1 is decentralized, Ethereum-based L2 is not necessarily decentralized.In fact, it is difficult for L2 to be decentralized like L1.For example, Coinbase’s Base chain, which also presents itself as Ethereum’s L2.
Vitalik said starting in 2025, he will only publicly acknowledge that he reached Stage 1 or higher in decentralized efforts, where the L2 network requires 75% consensus from the Council to overturn the proof system, and at least26% of the board members are independent of the rollup team.He believes that “this requirement is reasonable and necessary for network security. Moreover, other L2s focusing on zero-knowledge technology are approaching Stage 1.”
Ethereum’s “User Experience Revolution” and Development Direction
Vitalik also highlights the advancement of account abstract technology and the “User Experience Revolution”.At present, mainstream society still has reasons not to use crypto assets, such as “cryptocurrency is inefficient”, but this is not due to the limitations of technology.Blockchain is already empowering the Internet to act as a “digital concrete” (blockchain can create a digital hardness, creating a lasting digital structure that is strong and resistant to damage, just like using concrete to create a hard physical structure).
In fact, users can currently create a simple real account (smart contract wallet) from which transactions can only be sent when the user generates a proof that he controls a specific email address.So now, it is basically possible to introduce the social recovery feature of Web2 into the Web3 world.
Vitalik also mentioned the need to improve the security of wallets, especially to protect them from centralized participants.He commented on extreme self-sovereign wallets (mnemonic cold wallets) or traditional choices (CEXs) that rely on trusted third parties, arguing that both options are inherently flawed.
In contrast, he believes that multi-signature smart wallets are a more compromise solution.By requiring multiple private keys to authorize transactions, multiple signing wallets can provide enhanced protection for user funds while still maintaining a high level of privacy.(Note: Multi-signature security means that the user has multiple keys, such as 6 keys, and 4 keys are required when sending a transaction. You can even set custom rules, only 1 key is required for small transactions).
In addition, Vitalik also talks about ongoing technological improvements on the Ethereum mainnet, such as enhanced decentralization, reduced confirmation time and improved scalability, which will play a key role in the future success of Ethereum.
According to his prediction, the Ethereum ecosystem will develop in the direction of social networks, payment systems, private mining pools, zero-knowledge and human proof technology in the future, while both decentralization and practicality.
Let’s wait and see, this “adolescent” agreement is gradually maturing.
