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Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin says the blockchain has finally achieved its founding vision of supporting a fully decentralized internet, crediting layer-2 scaling networks and independent infrastructure projects with making permissionless finance, social media, and governance tools practical after years of congestion and high fees.
According to Buterin, the modern Ethereum stack now closely mirrors the architecture envisioned in 2014—one capable of supporting permissionless finance, decentralized social networks, governance tools, crowdfunding, and even alternatives to traditional Web2 platforms.
In his words, the core elements required for the Ethereum web3 vision are no longer theoretical but operational.
“In 2014, there was a vision: you can have permissionless, decentralized applications that could support finance, social media, ride sharing, governing organizations, crowdfunding, potentially create an entire alternative web,” Buterin wrote. “All on the backs of a suite of technologies.”
Ethereum’s early years were marked by explosive growth—and growing pains. As decentralized finance (DeFi), NFTs, and on-chain gaming gained traction, activity concentrated heavily on Ethereum’s Layer-1. That success came at a cost: network congestion, soaring gas fees, and long-term concerns about storage bloat.
Buterin acknowledged those limitations, noting that the original Ethereum web3 vision was never meant to rely entirely on Layer-1 execution. Instead, Ethereum was designed as a settlement layer, supported by complementary systems for computation, messaging, and storage.
The initial concept included three pillars: a base settlement chain, a messaging layer known as “Whisper,” and a decentralized storage system called “Swarm.” While Whisper and Swarm never reached mainstream adoption in their original forms, Buterin argues that modern alternatives have effectively taken their place—bringing the Ethereum web3 vision full circle.
One of Buterin’s central points is that Ethereum’s evolution has been driven less by radical changes to its base layer and more by independent ecosystem builders. Apart from the shift to proof-of-stake in 2022, most progress toward the Ethereum web3 vision came from side projects rather than core protocol upgrades.
Layer-2 networks such as Optimism, Arbitrum, Base, and zkSync have become essential to Ethereum’s scaling roadmap. Zero-knowledge rollups and ZK-EVM implementations, in particular, fulfilled the original idea behind sharding—processing transactions in parallel while settling on Ethereum’s secure base layer.
Meanwhile, the Waku network has emerged as the practical successor to Whisper, serving as a decentralized messaging and off-chain communication layer. For storage, IPFS has become the dominant solution, even if it has yet to fully solve long-term archiving challenges.
“All of the prerequisites for the original web3 vision are here, in full force, and are continuing to get stronger over the next few years,” Buterin wrote, reinforcing his belief that the Ethereum web3 vision is no longer aspirational.
Another cornerstone of the Ethereum web3 vision is freedom from centralized identity systems. Ethereum remains pseudonymous by design, requiring no Web2 logins or platform-level permissions to participate.
Privacy tooling has also matured. Applications like Railgun provide transaction privacy through zero-knowledge proofs, offering users protection without fully compromising regulatory safeguards. While some wallet addresses are blacklisted, the system remains largely neutral infrastructure—another key requirement of the Ethereum web3 vision.
Ethereum researcher Justin Drake has previously echoed similar views, stating that Ethereum’s neutrality and credible issuance policy make it “the settlement layer of the internet economy.” That framing aligns with Buterin’s argument that Ethereum’s success lies in being boring, stable, and difficult to change.
Interestingly, Buterin’s declaration that the Ethereum web3 vision is complete comes alongside his recent calls for Ethereum to become more “ossified.” Rather than pursuing constant major upgrades, he has suggested that Ethereum should prioritize long-term stability, security, and minimal governance intervention.
Recent hard forks have increasingly focused on improving Layer-2 efficiency rather than altering Ethereum’s core logic. This approach supports the idea that Ethereum’s foundational work is largely done, allowing the Ethereum web3 vision to scale organically through its ecosystem.
Despite growing competition from alternative Layer-1s, Ethereum continues to post strong usage metrics. The network currently supports roughly 890,000 daily active wallets, hovering near a one-month high.
Ethereum also remains the dominant venue for stablecoin issuance, on-chain lending, decentralized exchanges, and institutional-grade DeFi activity. While liquidity fragmentation across Layer-2 networks remains a challenge, it is also viewed as a temporary hurdle in the broader Ethereum web3 vision.
As ETH recently traded above $3,328, analysts say improving market sentiment could further boost lending and DeFi participation. Long-term holders and validators continue to accumulate, signaling confidence in Ethereum’s role as the backbone of decentralized finance—and the wider Ethereum web3 vision.
More than ten years after its inception, Ethereum may finally be what it set out to become: not just a blockchain, but a functioning foundation for a decentralized web.
