Vitalik Buterin Says Ethereum Fundamentals Are Stronger Than Before

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has come out defending the claims that the Ethereum ecosystem is turning weak. Buterin shares a list of improvements that make the blockchain stronger than ever before.

Vitalik Buterin Praises Optimism

In a post on the X platform, the Ethereum co-founder expressed support for Layer-2 network Optimism for its support to standardize asset transfers in the Ethereum ecosystem. Buterin praised Optimism for its work on REMOTESTATICCALL while outlining future plans such as the standardization of on-chain specific addresses, ERC-3668 light clients, and on-chain specific ENS. These measures will further boost the efficiency and interoperability of the Ethereum network, thereby leading to greater adoption.

Crypto market trader Krypto Ozzy chipped in responding to Vitalik Buterin stating that while he praises these developments, Ethereum has weakened in this cycle with several projects on the Ethereum mainnet and Layer 2 going bankrupt. Ozzy added that nearly 80% of investors have lost money being part of the Ethereum ecosystem.

Earlier this month in August, the Ethereum price took a plunge to $2,000 while recovering back 30% from the lows to $2,600 as of press time. On the other hand, the ETH gas fee tanked to 5-year lows raising concerns over the drop in ETH burning and thus increasing the ETH supply.

Vitalik Buterin chose to address the market concerns by providing a list of fundamental developments that make the Ethereum ecosystem stronger than before.

Ethereum Fundamentals Stronger Than Before

The Ethereum co-founder has listed several advancements highlighting the growth of the ETH ecosystem.

He pointed out the massive growth of Layer 2 platforms like Optimism and Arbitrum along with the L2 transaction fees dropping under $0.01. Also, the L2 wallet user experiences have improved significantly by eliminating manual network switching.

Buterin also noted advancements in zero-knowledge (ZK) tooling, making it easier for app developers. Moreover, progress on STARKs is leading to a clearer long-term security and decentralization strategy. In another move, Vitalik Buterin has proposed Plurality in order to improve the governance issues in the Ethereum ecosystem.

Ethereum has gotten stronger:

* Under $0.01 txfees on L2
* Two EVM L2s (@Optimism @arbitrum) now at stage 1
* Cross-L2 wallet UX has improved a lot (eg. no more manually switching networks), though still a long way to go
* Much more powerful and mature ZK tooling making life… pic.twitter.com/4jQGeZ3qEA

— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) August 22, 2024

150 Days to Dencun Upgrade

Galaxy has recently published a report highlighting the impact of blobs and rollups following the Dencun upgrade earlier this year. Ever since the upgrade, more than 2.23 million blobs were purchased, generating $9.3 million in revenue. Furthermore, of the 2,692 ETH earned, 89.45% was burned.

The Galaxy report also shows that Rollup costs have dropped significantly with daily operating costs dropping 50% post-Dencun while improving the margins. However, post-upgrade, Ethereum’s total revenue and ETH burned dropped by 69% and 84%, respectively. The Layer 2 Networks witnessed increased transaction failures, largely due to bots.