Vitalik: Ethereum is no longer in its early days; the future focuses on balancing mainstream demands and decentralization.

Vitalik Buterin delivered a keynote speech titled "Things That Excite Me About the Next Ten Years" at the main venue of TOKEN2049. He believes that the current crypto space is no longer in its early stages, and that Ethereum now needs to meet the demands of mainstream adoption while maintaining its values of Open Source and Decentralization.

Vitalik pointed out that although people often say the crypto space is still in its early stages, this is not the case. The Ethereum project has existed for over 10 years, and in the 15 years since the birth of Bitcoin, technologies like ChatGPT have emerged and completely changed people's understanding of artificial intelligence. Therefore, we need to reassess the development stage of the crypto space.

He reflected on his experience visiting Argentina in 2021, noting the local enthusiasm and widespread use of cryptocurrency. However, high transaction fees became one of the main factors hindering the proliferation of cryptocurrency. Fortunately, this issue has now improved significantly. Ethereum's transaction fees have dropped from $10 to less than 1 cent, while major Layer 2 solutions have also reached important security milestones.

In addition to the decrease in fees, the transaction confirmation time has also been greatly shortened. With the implementation of EIP-1559, the transaction confirmation time on the Ethereum mainnet stabilizes between 5 to 15 seconds, and it can even be reduced to one second when using Layer 2 solutions. These improvements have made the user experience quality of decentralized applications comparable to that of Web2 products.

Vitalik emphasized that the benefits of cryptocurrency for the world are not just technological improvements, but rather the creation of a digital robustness. Blockchain enables us to create immutable and persistent digital structures, just like concrete in the physical world. This "digital concrete" can be used to build various virtual "sky castles," including a wide range of uses such as asset protection, entertainment, cultural preservation, and digital governance.

Regarding the future development direction, Vitalik believes that the key is to meet the needs of mainstream adoption while maintaining the values of Open Source and Decentralization. He proposed multi-signature smart wallets as a solution that balances security and usability. This type of wallet allows users to set multiple keys and flexible transaction rules, which can both protect asset security and meet daily usage needs.

Finally, Vitalik looked forward to the future development of the Ethereum mainnet. He mentioned that ongoing technical improvements will make Layer 1 more decentralized and easier to verify while reducing final confirmation time and increasing capacity. These advancements will pave the way for the development of the Ethereum ecosystem and the entire cryptocurrency industry in the next decade.