On Jan. 1, Vitalik Buterin announced a New Year’s resolution for the blockchain he devised way back in 2013. It’s time, he declared, for Ethereum to step up and deliver on its original mission: “To build the world computer that serves as a central infrastructure piece of a more free and open internet.”
Buterin’s message is a timely one. For more than a decade now, Ethereum has offered the tantalizing promise of a global computer, available to anyone, that can be used to create decentralized alternatives to Big Tech’s data-gobbling monopolies. The blockchain popularized smart contracts, and has been a springboard for thousands of projects backed by billions of dollars. It has also spawned legions of mostly fly-by-night imitators.
Despite all of this, the promise of Ethereum always seems just over the horizon. In recent years, the blockchain has come to resemble that can’t-miss sports prospect who can’t quite hack it in the big leagues. Instead of evolving into a popular global computer, Ethereum still feels like a sub-culture where cliques of insiders build esoteric applications for each other. In response, many in the crypto world started betting on other horses like Solana that promised to deliver practical results.
Ethereum’s problem, ironically, has been its idealism. The blockchain has a core community that believes passionately in decentralization, and is mistrustful of anything resembling formal authority. That includes Buterin, who stepped back from his creation several years ago, preferring to let Ethereum find its own path forward.
All of this is admirable, especially in contrast to many recent arrivals on the crypto scene, whose first and only concern is to make a buck. Unfortunately, it has also led Ethereum developers to dither in the face of obvious problems, including congestion and high gas fees. To be fair, the blockchain has made some important fixes—but only after allowing piggy-back chains, known as layer 2s, to siphon off large amounts of revenue and make the crypto landscape painfully complicated.
Now, though, change could be in the air. In the last two years, both BlackRock and JPMorgan Chase have launched tokenized assets that settle directly to the main Ethereum blockchain. This is a testament to how Ethereum remains the gold standard for security and points to a future where it will be the backbone of global finance. The tokenized transactions also legitimize Ethereum’s claim to be a universal computer, and could spur the mainstream adoption of other decentralized applications for social media, identity, and more.
For this to happen, though, the Ethereum community will require Buterin’s ongoing leadership. That’s why his New Year’s Day post is a welcome development. The piece reinforced the primacy of decentralization as Ethereum’s paramount value: “We’re building decentralized applications. Applications that run without fraud, censorship or third-party interference. Applications that pass the walkaway test: they keep running even if the original developers disappear.”
But it also delivered a pragmatic piece of advice to the community seeking to build this decentralized future: Get on with it, already.
Jeff John Roberts [email protected] @jeffjohnroberts
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