On April 9, 2025, at the "2025 Hong Kong Web3 Carnival" ETHAsia 2025 event held in Hong Kong, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin delivered a keynote speech titled "The Future of Ethereum L1." As one of the most influential technological pioneers in the global blockchain field, Buterin's speech not only attracted the attention of developers, researchers, and industry leaders from around the world but also pointed the way for the future development of the Ethereum ecosystem. The speech focused on core topics such as the scalability improvements of Ethereum Layer 1 (L1), future planning and technological upgrades, the collaborative development of L1 and L2, and the profound impact of account abstraction on user experience, showcasing Ethereum's dual evolution in both technology and philosophy.
L1 Scalability: From "Data Layer" to "Economic Hub"
In his speech, Vitalik first corrected a common misconception: with the widespread adoption of Layer 2 (L2) solutions, many believe that L1's scalability is no longer a priority. However, he emphasized that even if most transaction activity occurs on L2, L1, as the foundation of the Ethereum ecosystem, still requires performance and functionality upgrades. He proposed that Ethereum L1 needs to transform from a mere "data layer" to an "economic hub," providing core services such as asset minting, cross-chain coordination, and liquidity pools for the L2 ecosystem.
To this end, Vitalik revealed a key plan in Ethereum's mid-term roadmap: by 2026, significantly increase the Gas limit through a series of innovative proposals while ensuring that the degree of decentralization of nodes is not affected. These proposals include block-level access lists, delayed execution mechanisms, and multi-dimensional calldata design. These technological upgrades aim to optimize the resource allocation efficiency of L1, enhance throughput, and lower the hardware threshold for running full nodes, thereby maintaining the core value of Ethereum's decentralization.
The Collaborative Development of L1 and L2: A Vision of 12-Second Asynchronous Communication
Vitalik further explored the collaborative development between L1 and L2. He pointed out that one of the long-term goals of the Ethereum ecosystem is to achieve native asynchronous communication between L2 and L1 at the 12-second level. This goal will significantly enhance the coupling between the two layers, promoting more applications to deploy components simultaneously on L1 and L2. For example, users can achieve transaction delays of less than 12 seconds or better cost options through "Intent Mode," while liquidity costs will be reduced to very low levels. This vision not only reflects breakthroughs at the technical level but also demonstrates Ethereum's focus on user experience and overall ecosystem efficiency.
He also mentioned that although L2 currently bears most of the transaction load, the capacity enhancement of L1 is still crucial for the network's censorship resistance, L2 interoperability, and fundamental security functions. In February of this year, Vitalik called for raising Ethereum's Gas limit from 30 million to over 36 million in a blog post, and this speech further reiterated that position. He believes that L1 and L2 are not in competition but are complementary ecological partners, and only through collaborative evolution can the grand goal of Ethereum's "true Web3" be achieved.
Account Abstraction: A Revolutionary Breakthrough in User Experience
On the user experience front, Vitalik views account abstraction as one of the core driving forces for Ethereum's future. He stated that account abstraction is not just a technological upgrade but a revolution in user sovereignty. By blurring the lines between externally owned accounts (EOA) and smart contract accounts, users will gain greater flexibility and security. For instance, account abstraction can support multi-signature, social recovery features, and zero-knowledge proof (ZK-SNARK) based identity verification, significantly reducing the risk of losing or having private keys stolen.
Vitalik illustrated that future Ethereum wallets will be able to seamlessly integrate cross-L2 transactions, allowing users to make payments simply through QR codes or on-chain addresses without manually switching networks or paying complex Gas fees. This "Venmo-like" experience will combine the convenience of traditional Web2 with the autonomy of Web3, clearing barriers for ordinary users to enter the crypto world. He also envisions that by 2034, the Ethereum wallet experience will achieve a perfect blend of Web2 user-friendliness and Web3 security, fundamentally changing the way blockchain applications are adopted.
Philosophical Upgrade: Balancing Decentralization and Cooperation
At the end of the speech, Vitalik elaborated on the challenges and visions facing the Ethereum ecosystem from a philosophical perspective. He believes that the greatest advantage of the Ethereum ecosystem lies in its diversity—from client teams to L2 developers, to community organizations around the world, everyone is working towards their own vision. However, how to integrate these dispersed forces into a unified ecosystem, rather than "138 incompatible domains," is the biggest social challenge currently facing Ethereum.
He called on the community to strengthen cooperation and standardization while maintaining open-source and decentralization values. For example, he praised entities like L2beat, believing they play an important role in tracking project progress and promoting open standards. Vitalik stated that Ethereum's future is not only the result of technological evolution but also a reflection of the community's shared values. "We are moving from 'fully functional' to 'fully experiential,' and this is not just a technological update but a philosophical upgrade," he concluded.
The Future of Ethereum in a Global Perspective
This speech took place against the backdrop of Hong Kong's accelerated development into a global Web3 hub. As a frontline area for blockchain innovation in Asia, Hong Kong attracts numerous industry leaders and technical experts through events like the Web3 Carnival. Vitalik's speech not only painted a clear blueprint for Ethereum's future but also injected a shot of adrenaline into the global blockchain community.
From technological breakthroughs to user experience optimization, and the collaborative development of L1 and L2, Vitalik Buterin's speech at ETHAsia 2025 is undoubtedly another milestone in Ethereum's development journey. As he said at the end, "The true Web3 is still on the way, but we have already taken a key step." The next decade for Ethereum will be one interwoven with technology and philosophy, and the evolution of L1 will become the cornerstone of this journey.
This article represents the author's personal views and does not reflect the position and views of this platform. This article is for information sharing only and does not constitute any investment advice to anyone.
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