Author: Jack Inabinet, Source: Bankless, Translated by: Shaw, Jinse Finance
Ethereum just celebrated its 10th anniversary. To commemorate this milestone, Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin appeared on the Bankless podcast hosted by Ryan and David, reviewing the development of Ethereum over the past decade and discussing the network's future direction.
This nearly two-hour interview was rich in content, filled with bold predictions, candid reflections, and philosophical insights.
ETH Has Actual Value
Although Vitalik is not always eager to discuss ETH prices, Ryan and David seemed pleased to hear Vitalik respond to questions about ETH's value during the conversation.
For many cryptocurrency observers, ETH's price is the glue that tightly binds the entire Ethereum ecosystem together. In the interview, Vitalik seemed to acknowledge this and expressed happiness seeing the Ethereum community unite around ETH, prioritizing it as the economic center of Ethereum.
Similarly, when asked about Ethereum treasury reserve companies, Vitalik stated that they provide multiple ways for individuals to gain ETH investment exposure, adding that companies coordinating around holding ETH as part of their balance sheet is "beneficial and valuable".
Privacy: Ethereum's Next Frontier
Decentralization was Ethereum's first major attempt, and privacy is likely to be its next target. Vitalik devoted significant time in this episode to outlining an ambitious privacy roadmap that balances principles and practicality.
From default privacy wallets to scalable non-custodial privacy pools, Vitalik explicitly stated that zero-knowledge cryptography is key to Ethereum achieving complete privacy and realizing its cypherpunk ideals.
In his vision, privacy is a freedom not limited to purists or pirates, but must be built for the masses. To achieve this goal, Ethereum must adopt a model similar to the "Bronze Age Mullet", with a frontend atmosphere and backend policies, thereby achieving scalable privacy protection at both technical and cultural levels.
Ethereum L2 Barbell Strategy Is Working
Despite ongoing concerns about L2 network fragmentation in 2024, Vitalik remains committed to the Barbell strategy, claiming it keeps the Ethereum mainnet lean, neutral, and highly secure, while empowering L2 networks with experimental space in scalability, user experience, and alternative block generation processes.
Vitalik does not view L2 as direct competition or failure, but as functional responsibility separation, with L2 actively optimizing performance and meeting ordinary user needs, while L1 maintains decentralization and serves as the ultimate authoritative source.
Although Vitalik emphasized the necessity of accelerating withdrawal speeds, increasing shard space fees, and adding ETH-denominated assets, he believes further L2 development will make Ethereum an increasingly powerful gravitational center, allowing them to continue revolving around it.
