Ethereum Reflections 2023 · djrtwo/writing · GitHub

This article from core Ethereum developer Danny Ryan of the Ethereum Foundation is a good read overall. It highlights how much continued development is possible and likely around Ethereum, but also highlights risks that are out. It is notable to me that many of the risks are not technical, but are about control and governance.

There are now a non-trivial number of well-resourced and sophisticated entities with a deep interest in not only the success but the manipulation of the Ethereum protocol. Such entities do not appear to generally have malice in intent today, but they do have a lot riding on the protocol evolving in certain ways and at certain speeds. To this end, L2s, VCs, exchanges, and dapps have entered into the L1 governance and development process. We are in a unique time in which Ethereum has these special interests forming and coming to the table, but many areas of the protocol, by almost any standard, are not yet sufficient, not yet ossified. This makes the next few years particularly risky.

These risks are real, and this is where having a strong Foundation, strong core developers, and a strong voice like Vitalik are going to be so important.

In short, Ethereum stands stronger than ever. The community building the core infrastructure, the community layering in scaling, and the community building on top are astounding to be a part of and to observe. But, there are still major challenges; there are still immense risks.

Ethereum is alive and well. Do your part to keep it that way.

That last line is why I’m looking into becoming a home validator for Ethereum, as I've been doing with Gnosis for several months now.