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 fallen below investors' psychological barriers. On March 12, the ETH to BTC exchange rate hit a new low, dropping to 0.022676, the lowest since June 2020. The ETH to BTC exchange rate continues to decline, with ICO-era whales fleeing, retail investors panicking, and constant FUD.

In February, a quarrel broke out within the Ethereum community, where the community wanted Vitalik to lower his noble head and see what the industry is currently playing with. In response to the criticism, Vitalik stated that he does not believe that the current trend of PVP is the best product in blockchain, and what he and Ethereum insist on is to create better products.

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

In this cycle, the Meme sector is booming, and PVP is prevalent, with a frenzied gambling mentality permeating the crypto community. In addition, a broader sense of confusion looms over the crypto community, as the true innovations that could lead the industry to prosper 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 all the rage on Ethereum.

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

In the past, 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.

Vitalik recently became the focus of public opinion in early February. At that time, the community was filled with voices of FUD regarding Ethereum. In the face of people's doubts, rational suggestions, or emotional insults, Vitalik ultimately responded on X, stating that he does not agree that the current PVP model is the best product, and he is pursuing a better product. Additionally, in response to the community's demands for reforms and responsibilities of the Ethereum Foundation, Vitalik expressed his fatigue towards suggestions from those who know nothing about the foundation's internal workings.

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

Groups often crave strong leaders, eagerly needing an object of their worship to gain psychological support and guidance. This drives them to idolize, amplifying the virtues of an individual, creating an all-powerful "deity." Once this constructed "deity" fails to meet the overly high expectations of the public, the shift in group attitude is swift and brutal. They instantly transition from blind worship to fierce criticism, pushing the "deity" off the pedestal and venting their disappointment and anger through insults and slander.

Vitalik has gone through a process of being both deified and demonized by the crypto community. Once upon a time, in the crypto community, what Vitalik said and the ideas he proposed pointed the way for the crypto industry. Vitalik was keen to express various ideas, such as SBT from a few years ago, digital nations, and so on, which were all concepts proposed or strongly supported by Vitalik. It was precisely under Vitalik's strong promotion that these new concepts were embraced and practiced by project parties in the industry, becoming a temporary trend.

Especially during bear markets, major projects will strategically layout the tracks that are expected to explode during bull markets. At that time, Vitalik was optimistic about Web3 social platforms, and entrepreneurs flocked to it, but after a period of popularity during the bear market, it also fizzled out.

The bull market has arrived, but the directions that Vitalik "pointed out" during the bear market did not see a major explosion in application at the onset of the bull market. Chaos and confusion have become the feelings of most project parties.

There is no real innovation, no new narrative to excite 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 in the current blockchain industry is no longer related to infrastructure. Instead, it is about what changes blockchain can bring to human life or the products of the world. What is the answer to this question?

The answer, if it is about payment, was provided by Bitcoin back in 2008. The answer, if it is about DeFi, was given by Ethereum in 2020. Currently, the most practical application in the cryptocurrency space can be said to be stablecoins, which are genuinely changing the traditional world in various fields such as cross-border payments.

Is there really no innovation left in the blockchain industry besides this? In this cycle, asset launch platforms on various chains are trending, which is merely an innovation in the way assets are issued, with the core of the casino dressed in a new outfit. Another area that everyone is optimistic about is the blockchain AI track, which has attracted a large amount of funding, but the bubble was burst by the emergence of Deepseek. A more prominent issue in this track is that the narrative's subject is still AI; blockchain technology can help AI agents obtain on-chain identities, build economic systems, etc., but ultimately, it is always supporting AI. This track is not a crypto-native track.

Under a vast wilderness, casinos are considered the best products in the crypto industry. In the face of many people's advice, Vitalik himself and Ethereum were able to dive more into the "casino" gameplay. Vitalik refused, saying, "If I look into my heart, 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 unwilling to listen to others' opinions. Yet it was also these traits that allowed him to create Ethereum.

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

Jung once said, "When you were young, the things that made time fly and brought you joy, that answer is your pursuit in this world."

For Vitalik, what is worth striving for has long been written in his childhood experiences. At the age of 4, Vitalik received a computer from his father. While other kids played computer games, he became obsessed with Excel software, and soon he could write automated calculation programs using Excel; at 7, he created a "Rabbit Encyclopedia" document filled with charts and mathematical formulas, shortly after which he was recognized for his talent in mathematics and programming; by the age of 10, his mental calculation speed was already more than twice that of his peers; at 11, he started studying subjects like mathematics, programming, and economics in advance in a "Genius Youngsters Class"...

The programming technology itself brings joy to Vitalik, and his pursuit is to use technology to change the world. Compared to some speculators in the crypto space, he is relatively consistent and conservative.

In 2018, Ethereum experienced a sharp decline and faced skepticism from the community. Vitalik once warned – do not let Ethereum become a "tulip" for speculators to profit from. At that time, just like now, Vitalik also considered leaving Ethereum, saying, "Should I drop Ethereum and work for Google?"

Questions about Ethereum often arise during periods of low prices. In the face of community doubts and insults, Vitalik always thinks about "leaving".

Vitalik has always had his own convictions. His commitment to technology and his vigilance against "bubbles" have never changed. It is precisely these convictions 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 mostly occurred on Ethereum, known as the "world computer": Ethereum has widely adopted smart contracts, providing a platform for the flourishing of innovative financial mechanisms in DeFi such as liquidity mining, the establishment of various layer two solutions like Rollups and Plasma, and the practical implementation of Dao governance models, among others.

Currently, 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 realizing his technical ideals with Ethereum; he also places his social ideals on Ethereum, and his vision is not limited to Ethereum alone. The concepts he advocates, such as decentralization, resistance to censorship, and Quadratic Voting, relate to democratic practices, internet infrastructure, and commercial and public welfare organizations. This gives him an influence that transcends the crypto community.

Is Ethereum really doomed?

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

In April, Ethereum will welcome the mainnet launch of the Pectra upgrade. This change integrates the execution layer (Prague upgrade) and the consensus layer (Electra upgrade). Pectra introduces 11 key Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) aimed at enhancing scalability, staking flexibility, and user experience. Overall, after this upgrade, on a technical level, it will improve the performance and stability of the Ethereum network; on an economic level, it changes Ethereum's staking economic model, which will affect the supply and demand relationship and market prices of Ethereum; on an application level, it will attract more developers and users into the Ethereum ecosystem, promoting innovation and development of decentralized applications, and so on.

In the United States, a spot ETF for Ethereum that allows staking 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 into its spot Ethereum ETF. In addition, Fidelity submitted an S-1 form for the proposed spot Ethereum ETF, which includes staking features. Grayscale has also applied to provide staking features for the spot Ethereum ETF.

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

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

There is a consensus in the industry that one major reason for the weak appeal of the current Ethereum spot ETF is that it does not have a staking feature. The launch of the staking feature will allow holders of the Ethereum spot ETF to receive rewards for staking Ethereum. After staking, investors will obtain an annualized return of 3% to 3.5%. With the launch of the stakeable Ethereum spot ETF, it is likely to significantly increase the fund inflow into the Ethereum spot ETF, thereby driving 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 changes to Ethereum, which are worth looking forward to, 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 have been no projects on the Ethereum main chain that have garnered widespread participation, and the price has not exceeded previous highs. Its TVL (Total Value Locked) remains at its highest since 2021.

Once it was the preferred choice for building smart contract platforms, but now, with the blockchain infrastructure having developed comprehensively, there are more and better public chains available that are also cheaper to use, Ethereum is no longer the only option. In this cycle, public chains like Solana, Sui, and TON have each developed their own ecological characteristics. Leading Ethereum Layer 2s like Base have also achieved their own milestones.

Vitalik's decentralization is a good thing for the industry. As the industry matures, Ethereum will no longer dominate alone, allowing more emerging players to compete, which can stimulate a richer ecosystem. As the blockchain ecosystem becomes more diverse, Ethereum's importance in the industry will inevitably decline.

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

Ethereum and Vitalik himself should not 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.

People who are confused and angry in the crypto community, after questioning their own hearts, 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 trend to continue being a shrewd "speculator".