Ethereum is increasingly seen as a foundational technology for the next generation of the internet, often called Web3. This vision imagines an internet that is decentralized, more secure, and user-controlled, with Ethereum playing a central role as the underlying infrastructure. Ethereum’s blockchain technology enables smart contracts, decentralized applications (dApps), and tokenization, which together create a new digital economy and governance model that could transform how the internet operates.
Ethereum’s resilience and security make it a strong candidate for this foundational role. Since its launch, Ethereum has maintained over ten years of uninterrupted uptime and has undergone more than 15 successful network upgrades without downtime. This reliability is crucial for building the next internet generation, where continuous availability and trust are essential. Moreover, Ethereum’s economic security is unmatched, with over $138 billion in economic security, making it the most expensive smart contract platform to attack. This level of security is vital for protecting user data and digital assets on a global scale.
One of Ethereum’s key strengths is its flexibility and decentralization. It offers complete freedom from lock-in to any single vendor, technology stack, or architecture. This means institutions and developers can build on Ethereum without fearing dependence on a single company or technology, preserving innovation and adaptability as business needs evolve. The platform’s decentralization also eliminates counterparty risk and makes it resilient to geopolitical, regulatory, and infrastructure-level risks, which are common challenges in centralized internet services.
Ethereum’s ecosystem is vast and diverse, supporting over 65% of all blockchains on a 12-month average basis. It hosts the deepest liquidity of any onchain environment, making it the preferred liquidity layer for institutions building next-generation financial products. More than 75% of all onchain real-world assets (RWAs) and $193 billion in stablecoin total value locked (TVL) are deployed on Ethereum and its Layer 2 scaling solutions. This extensive tokenization capability allows for the digitization of assets like real estate, stocks, and commodities, enabling new forms of ownership, trading, and financial services that are native to the internet.
The Ethereum Foundation and the broader community are actively working to accelerate real-world adoption of Ethereum-based applications. Initiatives like the Ethereum Applications Guild (EAG), co-initiated by Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, aim to build a global collaborative network for Ethereum-native applications. This initiative encourages developers worldwide to build, validate, and advance solutions that address real-world problems, signaling a shift from infrastructure development to application explosion. The EAG fosters bottom-up collaboration among ETH treasury organizations, technology companies, Layer-2 teams, developer communities, and research institutions to co-create a new paradigm for Ethereum applications.
Ethereum’s treasury management strategy also reflects its commitment to decentralized finance (DeFi) innovation. The Ethereum Foundation has shifted from a passive asset-holding approach to actively using DeFi protocols to manage its treasury. This strategy improves operational efficiency and transparency by generating yield on assets without selling them, reducing market volatility risks. It also sets an example for other organizations, especially crypto-friendly small and medium enterprises, to adopt similar treasury management approaches that leverage DeFi’s benefits while being mindful of risks like market volatility, liquidity constraints, and regulatory compliance.
In practical terms, Ethereum’s role as the foundation for the next internet generation means that many services currently centralized—such as social media, finance, identity verification, and data storage—could be rebuilt as decentralized applications on Ethereum. This would give users more control over their data and digital identities, reduce censorship and single points of failure, and enable new economic models where users can directly participate and benefit from the value they create online.
Ethereum’s Layer 2 solutions further enhance its scalability and usability, addressing past concerns about transaction speed and cost. These Layer 2 networks process transactions off the main Ethereum chain but still benefit from its security, enabling faster and cheaper interactions. This scalability is essential for supporting mass adoption and complex applications that require high throughput.
The vision of Ethereum as the backbone of the next internet generation is supported by its unmatched liquidity, security, decentralization, and a vibrant ecosystem of developers and institutions. It is not just a technology platform but a new paradigm for collaboration and innovation that could redefine how the internet works, making it more open, fair, and user-centric. As more real-world applications emerge and the ecosystem matures, Ethereum’s foundational role in the future internet becomes increasingly clear.