Contribution Capital

Ethereum Devcon Bangkok: Results From November 11 to 15, we had the pleasure of attending Devcon, the largest crypto conference dedicated to the Ethereum ecosystem, held this year in vibrant Bangkok. Here's a personal recap of the key highlights, challenges, and forward-looking solutions discussed at the event. Context Ethereum is going through turbulent times. The ecosystem feels fragmented, with various players vying for dominance. The long-standing principle of maximum decentralization appears under threat. Transaction fees have plummeted 100-fold, taking revenue with them. Meanwhile, competitors like Solana are surging ahead, sparking “ETH is dead” narratives as ETH's price struggles. Background The Ethereum Foundation (EF), after years of debate, has committed to scaling the ecosystem through L2 solutions. The vision is for Ethereum to remain the fundamental settlement and consensus layer, while user-facing (B2C) activity shifts to L2 networks—independent blockchains using Ethereum as a security guarantor. Critics, however, have labeled L2s “parasites.” This shift has created tension: Reduced Revenue : EF enabled L2s to interact with Ethereum at a fraction of the cost regular dApps face, slashing Ethereum's income. Centralization Concerns : L2s chose to remain centralized, becoming 100x faster—and now, 100x cheaper than Ethereum. Competition : L2s not only compete with each other but also with Ethereum itself for capital. Fragmentation is rife, and collaboration is rare. The result? User migration from Ethereum to L2s and further challenges for ETH's price. Conference Highlights Against this backdrop, Devcon gathered the brightest minds in Ethereum, from EF researchers to top project teams—mainly those focused on solving these existential issues. Thankfully, EF has a roadmap. Proposed Solutions ZKP Everything EF is placing a big bet on ZKP. In 5 years, they envision Ethereum transactions and blocks being fully ZKP-verified. This would enable Validator nodes to run on mobile devices and allow staking from just 1 ETH. Convenience is key. Based Sequencing EF proposes unifying L2s with Ethereum via shared Validators, branding this approach Based Sequencing and the resulting rollups Based Rollups. “Everything should be based,” quipped Vitalik Buterin. Results & Insights Infrastructure First EF is laser-focused on infrastructure, believing it will enable the next wave of end applications, including serious Web2 players transitioning into Web3 via Ethereum.