Ethereum Faces Dual Challenges of Price and Fundamentals, at a Critical Crossroads

Recently, the price of Ethereum has been sluggish, sparking widespread discussion in the community. In fact, the ETH price reflects key factors such as whether Ethereum can unify the community's vision, balance decentralization with performance, and consolidate its leading position as a smart contract platform. This article will explore some of the issues currently facing Ethereum.

The Importance of ETH Price

Although the EF technical team tends to ignore price discussions, the ETH price is actually very significant:

1. Directly affects EF's capital reserves. At the current rate of expenditure, EF's funds can last for about 7.5 years, and a drop in ETH prices will shorten this period.

2. Affect the security of PoS consensus. A drop in ETH price will lower the cost of attacks, while also impacting the earnings of stakers, which may lead to node exits.

3. Reflect the confidence of ecosystem participants. Prices are the result of developers, users, and investors voting with their feet; prolonged sluggishness may trigger a negative cycle.

Therefore, EF should pay attention to the "mirror" of the ETH price.

The Relativity of Decentralization and Competition

The degree of decentralization varies from person to person. For Solana users, being able to see on-chain information is sufficient.

Ethereum mainly faces competition in two aspects:

As a value storage asset, ETH is hard to compete with Bitcoin. Bitcoin has a clearer positioning, more stable supply, and has gained more institutional recognition.

As a smart contract platform, Ethereum is facing fierce competition from Layer 1 solutions like Solana. Multiple data points show a significant decline in Ethereum's activity. Solana has differentiated advantages in performance, culture, and attention capture.

The Choices and Challenges of EF

Chairman Aya of EF emphasizes that the role of the foundation is that of a "gardener" rather than a "controller," advocating for decentralized governance. However, when the system's growth stagnates, it is difficult to convince others with empty talk of idealism.

EF needs to seek a balance between adhering to values and responding to market demands. Simply emphasizing that "Ethereum is an ecosystem rather than a company" is difficult to address community concerns.

Conclusion

In the current cycle, Ethereum has lost market favor. To regain momentum, EF can:

1. Accelerate technology development, especially in scalability and cross-L2 interoperability.
2. Strengthen global education efforts
3. Reform governance, improve transparency and community participation

As a long-term supporter, I hope Ethereum can rise again, while also welcoming the emergence of challengers like Solana to inject vitality into the industry.