Ethereum Foundation Co-Executive Director's Speech: Ethereum is a Ladder

Author: Zhixiong Pan

Ethereum is a ladder.

It's a system that allows people starting from scratch to continuously climb upwards through their own efforts. Every time someone builds something new on it, the system grows taller. It's a ladder that can never be finished, because its future is being created collectively by everyone present at this moment.

A ladder is useful because it "takes you somewhere": a direction, an opportunity, a path upwards. Ethereum works in the same way. It never promises a fixed destination, but rather gives people a path to climb at their own pace. Every time someone adds a new step, those behind can stand a little higher.

I myself first participated seven or eight years ago. This year marks a new chapter for Ethereum.

Since the Ethereum Foundation completed its leadership transition eight months ago, Tomasz and I have made it our primary responsibility to ensure a stable and smooth transition. Ethereum is entering a new phase. I define this phase by three capabilities: The ability to remain reliable under pressure. The ability to evolve continuously based on community feedback. The ability to take responsibility with a true "guardian" mindset. Reliability is not just a slogan; it's something we must "earn" block by block. To date, Ethereum has achieved 100% network survivability and continuous block production throughout all major upgrades, and we believe Fusaka will be the next example. Reliability is the prerequisite for people to "come here and build without fear." You must know that the step you're standing on is solid. Ethereum has been around for 10 years. We just celebrated its 10th anniversary today. This is the culmination of countless people building, experimenting, failing, and trying again over the past decade. And the system has always been running, making all of this possible. The second capability is **flexibility**. Flexibility means: we don't pretend to know everything. It requires us to listen carefully when the community points out "what doesn't work well, what needs improvement." It requires us to humbly adjust our course when necessary. The ladder only becomes stronger when we truly understand "how people climb it." As for the Ethereum Foundation, it cares about Ethereum, but it doesn't control it. We don't decide the direction; we maintain an environment where "direction can emerge naturally." Stewardship is not "power over Ethereum," but rather "contribution and responsibility for Ethereum." Ethereum works because people come from all directions. Whether you're a researcher, client team member, application developer, investor, application user, scientist, academic, student, local community organizer, a beginner, or a seasoned veteran: this ladder welcomes everyone willing to build something here. The truly magical thing about this community is that when someone climbs up, they're not alone. We have incredibly rich resources and a collaborative network. When someone climbs to the top, they often add another step, allowing the next person to stand on that step. This is how Ethereum's "compound interest effect" occurs. How does compound interest grow? Let's take a simple example to see what this compound growth and the "ladder getting higher and higher" actually looks like. Imagine a user's first encounter with the crypto world, perhaps through a DeFi use case. They use DeFi to achieve a goal they care about. Meanwhile, someone searching for opportunities, a researcher, or an analyst sees new ideas in these real-world actions. Elsewhere, an application developer met his co-founder at an Ethereum hackathon, and they decided to work together on a brand new product. This product, in turn, would soon become a source of inspiration for another group of people, becoming a new platform, a new step on the ladder. This ladder is not a pyramid, but a constantly circulating system. Every step taken becomes a starting point for those who follow. Protocol layer work becomes real-world progress; applications become new steps; research becomes new opportunities. In this way, Ethereum is "growing" for all of us, and even for those who haven't yet discovered it. Early Exploration and Key Steps The Ethereum Foundation invests in many early explorations that others might not: early basic research, early client development, and various seemingly "strange" experiments. Initially, many of these things don't seem so important, or even somewhat "incomprehensible." But after a few years, looking back, we find that: A significant portion of these have become crucial stepping stones today. New teams and new projects are able to build upon these research and development achievements. At the same time, we cannot pretend that decentralization will "maintain automatically"; that convenience is "cost-free"; or that the risk of being "captured" by a minority does not exist. What truly protects the essence of Ethereum is honesty and transparency. True decentralization, fair neutrality, and resilience under pressure are the steps we must never compromise on. Not because "compromising might be okay," but because once these core principles break down, all the steps above could collapse together.

More than just blockchain, it's fertile ground for "new things"

Today, ten years later, Ethereum is no longer just a "blockchain."

It's fertile ground where:

• new forms of assets can emerge,

• ways of expressing identity can emerge,

• cultures and communities can be organized in new ways,

• coordination and collaboration can grow in entirely new forms.

It's a platform that carries those "ideas the world hasn't even thought of yet."

And our job isn't to "rush to climb to the top first,"

but to ensure that those who come after us can climb much higher than we have.

Now, when my family asks me, "What do you do?", I can answer like this: I help keep this ladder stable. If people I'll never know can use this ladder to climb to places I'll never reach, that's Ethereum's success. Ethereum succeeds because it's not owned by any one team. Not the Ethereum Foundation, not a Layer 2, and not a single validator. We can rise together because we can only rise together. Ethereum's future won't be built by those on stage alone, but by everyone here and those watching on screens far away. Through your experience, your imagination, and your courage to take the next step. Ethereum never promises an "easy ride." It promises: a **fair opportunity** for everyone to join, a climb where "each step up changes the boundaries of possibility." Our promise is simple: We will continue to do the quiet, less glamorous work that keeps Ethereum stable. This way, when people build on it, what they create has the chance to truly be "extraordinary." Thank you for being with us all the way, thank you for believing in such an open system, and thank you for building the next step together. Ethereum is a ladder, and we will climb it together.

Q&A Session

Q: Is Bulbasaur really your favorite Pokémon?

This is the question with the most votes.

The answer is: Bulbasaur is not only my favorite Pokémon, it is the strongest Pokémon.

I also think Bulbasaur is a great "coordinator," which in a sense is similar to Ethereum:

winning through coordination.

Q: What's the one thing you're most looking forward to in 2026? Is it one thing, or many? I think 2026 will continue the trend that started in 2025, more like a "second phase" of 2025. We'll see more real-world adoption: More people using Ethereum, DeFi protocols, and open zero-knowledge technologies to solve real-world problems in their daily lives. Q: Do you think the ladder has become easier to climb? For newcomers, I think the answer is "yes." The ladder is now quite stable and easier for newcomers to take the first step. Of course, the higher you go, the more challenging each new invention and each new step will be. But as long as this whole community is here, I believe we can overcome these challenges together.