Ethereum has always been more than just a coin with a ticker. And now, co-founder Vitalik Buterin is doubling down on that idea. In his latest blog post, he shifted the focus away from ETH’s price milestones and toward something bigger: building Ethereum’s long-term foundation.
His central argument? Low-risk DeFi protocols could become Ethereum’s financial backbone, just as Google Search became the steady cash engine that powers Google. Buterin emphasized that this base layer of stability could give Ethereum the freedom to explore new projects without sacrificing its mission.
The Ethereum ecosystem’s tug of war
Ethereum’s journey has long been split between two worlds. On one side, you’ve got the money machines—NFTs, memecoins, and DeFi loops that pull in big capital but often rely on short-lived hype. On the other side sit projects like Lens, Farcaster, ENS, Polymarket, Seer, and privacy protocols, which reflect Ethereum’s values and cultural depth but struggle with adoption and revenue.
Buterin admitted this clash created a “dissonance” within the community. As he put it:
“A large amount of community momentum was backed by the theoretical hope that some application could emerge that fills both boxes at the same time.”
Is DeFi Ethereum’s “Google moment”?
Buterin believes Ethereum might have found its equivalent of Google Search in low-risk, accessible DeFi. These protocols—focused on democratizing global access to payments and savings in key asset classes like currencies, bonds, and stocks—could deliver reliable revenue without compromising Ethereum’s ethos.
The difference, Buterin argues, is that unlike Google, which critics say drifted toward profit-maximization, Ethereum’s decentralized nature can help ensure it stays true to its values. “In fact, I hope Ethereum can do much better than Google,” he said. For him, “doing better” means proving it’s possible to succeed financially while remaining anchored in community-driven ideals.
Ethereum on-chain activity and user frustrations
While Vitalik sketches the big vision, Ethereum’s day-to-day data paints a complex picture. ETH was trading at $4,486.13 at press time, with much of the activity driven by smaller wallet holders—those in the 1,000–10,000 ETH bracket. This distribution suggests Ethereum’s activity is broad-based rather than dominated by mega-whales.
But it’s not all smooth sailing. The network’s unstaking queue has stretched past 45 days, sparking frustration on Crypto Twitter. Some users complained about struggling to access funds for essentials like rent and bills, with many pointing to Solana’s two-day unstaking as a painful comparison.
Buterin defended Ethereum’s slower approach, likening it to a soldier’s discharge process—a built-in “security deal” designed to protect the system from instability, even if it means more waiting for users.
Looking forward: stability with values
Ethereum’s challenge has always been to grow without losing its soul. If low-risk DeFi can deliver the “Google Search” effect Buterin envisions, the network could finally balance stability with experimentation. Whether it can truly “do better than Google” remains to be seen—but for the first time in years, Ethereum seems closer to reconciling its economic engine with its cultural heartbeat.
