Is there still hope for Ethereum? Let's make it "cool" again

Original Title: "The Internet You Can Own"

Author: Tyler

Compiled by: Yuliya, PANews

One of the most promising blockchains faced challenges during the peak of the cryptocurrency market boom. Over the past few years, the Ethereum community has undergone severe tests. In 2024, Bitcoin's price rose from $39,000 to $106,000 (a 2.7x increase), while Ethereum increased from $2,200 to $4,000 (a 1.8x increase). The ETH/BTC ratio is at its lowest level since the ICO bubble burst in 2018.

Historical ETH/BTC Ratio (2016-2025)

Market Trends and Ethereum's Positioning

The market currently leans more towards short-term speculative trading rather than long-term investment, with scams prevalent and speculators revered. The cyclical nature of the crypto market means that when market sentiment is overly pessimistic, fundamentals will eventually reassert themselves. Despite the gloomy sentiment on Crypto Twitter, the atmosphere within the Ethereum ecosystem is improving, and some positive changes are brewing.

Recently, some members of the Ethereum community initiated the ETHDenver brand hackathon, hoping to reshape Ethereum's market image through a crowdsourced marketing concept and promote spontaneous advocacy within the ecosystem. This initiative led to the formation of the Ethereum marketing group on Telegram, aimed at addressing the market's insufficient promotional efforts for Ethereum.

From a first-principles perspective, the core value of blockchain lies in decentralization; otherwise, its efficiency is inferior to centralized databases. The allure of blockchain lies in its immutability, trust neutrality, unstoppable nature, and resistance to censorship, all of which depend on the degree of decentralization.

The Scalability Trilemma was a hot topic from 2016 to 2020, but it is rarely mentioned today.

This theory posits that among scalability, security, and decentralization, only two can be achieved simultaneously. Most competitive L1 blockchains sacrifice decentralization and security to enhance scalability; in other words, they become more centralized.

In contrast, Ethereum insists on decentralization, which seems to be a wise choice overall. Although the market currently does not value decentralization, users clearly do. For example, in terms of stablecoin TVL, Ethereum still far surpasses Solana.

Rollup solutions can inherit Ethereum's foundational security 100% and expand network scale through L2 or economic zones. Bitcoin plans to expand through Rollup solutions like BitVM and BitVM2, while Ethereum's expansion path is clearer. If Solana reaches maximum capacity at the base layer, they will also need to use L2 for expansion.

Ethereum represents all cypherpunks; it embodies a vision loyal to its mission rather than a speculative casino.

How Can Ethereum Win?

What issues does Ethereum currently face? If its mission is so great, why is it not reflected in the price? The current problem for Ethereum lies in how to interact with areas of the crypto space (such as attention economy, memes, radical marketing, etc.) that it has historically looked down upon while staying true to its principles.

After the ICO bubble, Ethereum's leadership understandably distanced itself from anything that could harm its reputation. The focus shifted to "serious" use cases like DeFi, while cultural phenomena like memes were largely ignored and dismissed. However, in the process, Ethereum lost its cultural ground, which was occupied by public chains like Solana that embraced these elements.

Ethereum can more actively shape its culture and promote projects that align with its values. It's time to make Ethereum "cool" again.

1. Make Ethereum "Cool" Again

Ethereum needs to re-embrace cypherpunk culture and regain its early rebellious spirit. Vitalik's best move was using a Milady avatar, which is highly symbolic. The organization behind Milady, Remilia, dominates crypto Twitter culture, advocating for the cypherpunk endgame and recognizing that cryptocurrency is not just about technology — it encompasses politics, economics, computer science, memetics, philosophy, governance, and art. Miladys are both cool and avant-garde, pushing the boundaries of socially acceptable norms in the name of maintaining online freedoms (like free speech).

The political stance of Ethereum's leadership is often criticized for seeming disconnected from user needs. Once a company loses resonance with its users, it struggles to succeed.

Why can subcultures like Milady surpass Ethereum itself in influence? The core issue is that Ethereum lacks strong cultural shaping and leadership, being too passive. The best founders fight alongside their users, deeply understanding their pain points.

One only needs to study how @charlottefang77 actively conveys dynasty thinking (aimed at elevating community status and reinforcing values) and creates dialogues that all Milady community members can understand, regardless of their status, IQ, or technical background. The ability to communicate across all levels of the community is powerful.

The Ethereum Foundation has even been slow to actively use major DeFi protocols, showing its lag in ecosystem building. Instead of political discussions, Ethereum should return to cypherpunk ideology and revive the rebellious spirit of early cryptocurrency. This requires not only a technological revolution but also cultural and philosophical support for Ethereum to truly win the future.

Solana has gained market recognition due to its clear identity and vision: fast and cheap. They embrace KOLs and meme culture, daring to promote themselves/products/ideas and striving for market share. In the current environment, "either dominate the narrative or be dominated by it," the best way is to defeat competitors with superior ideas.

Ethereum should not fear competition but fully support excellent projects and communities on-chain, whether they are meme coins, DeFi applications, or NFT projects — the customer is always right.

2. Embrace Modern Media and the Power of Memes

Ethereum has few allies in media and social platforms, which are becoming increasingly important. Ethereum has yet to form a systematic media cooperation strategy, while Solana actively embraces media and KOLs. For example, @DegenerateNews appears to be a neutral news account but continuously publishes positive news about Solana. Additionally, Blockworks seems to lean more towards Solana. This strategy has been successful for Solana but detrimental to Ethereum.

The Ethereum community is migrating to Farcaster, which is a long-term strategy but has led to a decline in influence on X (Twitter) in the short term. Farcaster has yet to attract mainstream users, and Ethereum still needs to prioritize maintaining its narrative position on X; otherwise, its influence will further wane.

3. Clarify the Competitive Landscape

Ethereum not only faces Solana but also competes with Bitcoin L2. Bitcoin emphasizes monetary attributes, Solana emphasizes technological advantages, so what is Ethereum's positioning?

In fact, Ethereum's core value proposition — decentralization — still holds a strong advantage, but the market's understanding of it is not clear enough. Solana is favored for its excellent user experience, mainly due to two factors:

1. The Phantom wallet is highly praised and considered the easiest wallet to use.
2. Solana has only one chain, so users do not need to bridge assets between multiple L2s.

In contrast, while Ethereum's concept of Account Abstraction has been proposed for years, no wallet has truly masked the differences between L2s, allowing seamless circulation of all USDC/USDT across different L2s. If Ethereum wants to enhance user experience, it must simplify L2 interactions to make the experience closer to the mainnet.

4. Strengthen Ecosystem Collaboration

Does Ethereum have a truly effective incubator? While Consensys is seen as a supporter of the Ethereum ecosystem, it has failed to promote project development in a bottom-up manner. In contrast, the DeFi Alliance's support for Solana is more systematic. So how can Ethereum support potential projects? If no organization takes on this responsibility, decentralization may instead become a disadvantage.

5. Establish a Unified Information Hub

Ethereum's website is actually quite good, but ironically, this is part of the problem. In an era where social media dominates information dissemination, expecting users to browse FAQs seems a bit foolish. Ethereum needs a unified information platform, such as a decentralized app store, and ensure that this information spreads on social platforms to directly reach users.

In the long run, the ideal state is for users to use Ethereum seamlessly, just like the infrastructure of the internet, but waiting for companies like Apple to integrate is not the best solution; Ethereum needs to take proactive steps.

Branding Ethereum

The Ethereum community needs a simple sentence to describe Ethereum's functionality. Memes play a decisive role in information dissemination. Just like Bitcoin's "digital gold" meme, people can immediately understand its meaning. The answer to this question will guide the direction of the Ethereum brand hackathon. Here are some evaluations of branding slogans:

• "Web1: Read, Web2: Write, Web3: Own" — a good starting point, but too long.
• "World Computer" — the concept is not intuitive enough and may not resonate; people usually understand a computer as the laptop or desktop in front of them, making the concept of a "world computer" hard to grasp: is it just a particularly large computer?
• "Digital Oil" — while it seems to mimic "digital gold," it effectively conveys ETH's functionality, indicating that ETH's value comes from its utility and its status as currency in the digital economy, but it relies too heavily on Bitcoin's framework, making it hard to become a dominant meme.
• "Internet of Currency" — the IoT concept mainly resonates with engineers, but is too abstract for ordinary users to understand.
• "People's Internet" — a good concept, but still too abstract.
• "Incentivized Open Source Software" — this meme is most suitable for VCs and investors who understand that open-source software is changing the world, but need a model to understand how tokens and cryptocurrencies fit in. Ordinary users find it hard to resonate.
• "Global Settlement Layer" — may suit traders and funds but is hard to popularize.
• "Ethereum — The Internet You Can Own" — this statement has the most potential. It meets all requirements: it explains the value proposition, is easy to understand, and resonates widely. People understand the internet and know that the largest tech companies in the world are valuable; what if they could own the internet itself and buy its "equity"? The internet is becoming stronger and more widespread every year. "Ethereum - The Internet You Can Own" attempts to balance the promotion of technology and ETH assets.

Considerations for Redesigning the Logo

1. Be careful with "≡thereum"; most ordinary users will read it directly as "thereum," for example, "Built on ≡thereum" may cause confusion;

2. Avoid being too "cyberpunk" to prevent alienating ordinary users.

3. Do not be overly "woke," as Ethereum focuses more on value delivery and technical capability rather than social ideology.

Intel Inside Inspiration: Ethereum's Branding and Marketing Strategy

The reason Intel Inside became a classic case is not just due to brand building, but because of its subsequent marketing strategy that made the entire plan successful. To achieve similar success in branding, Ethereum must consider both brand building and marketing promotion simultaneously.

The core of the Intel Inside program is collaboration with computer manufacturers (OEMs) to display the Intel Inside logo on their products, signaling to consumers that the devices use high-quality, cutting-edge processors. Intel not only provides the logo but also incentivizes manufacturers to adopt this branding strategy through subsidies. By 1992, over 500 manufacturers had joined the program, and 70% of related advertisements featured the Intel Inside logo. By 2001, Intel invested $1.5 billion annually (approximately $2.69 billion in today's value) into the program, embedding its brand deeply in consumers' minds.

Notably, Intel employs a strict brand management mechanism, requiring all partners' advertisements to comply with brand standards, even having a brand usage guideline that spans 100 pages. Any violations would result in the withdrawal of subsidies or even loss of partnership. This decisive market strategy has made Intel an industry benchmark and ensured its brand occupies a dominant position in consumers' minds.

Thoughts on Ethereum's Branding Strategy

If the Intel Inside model is applied to the Ethereum ecosystem, DApps would be equivalent to OEMs, while Ethereum would be akin to Intel's chips. To expand brand influence, Ethereum may need to invest resources comparable to Intel's and adopt more robust execution strategies.

A key question is: If Intel does not subsidize OEMs that also use competitor chips, should Ethereum fund applications that support multiple chains?

Currently, long-time Ethereum allies like MakerDAO/Sky, Uniswap, and Aave have adopted multi-chain deployment strategies. Does this mean they need to be more "Ethereum-aligned" in the branding partnership program? If so, how should this alignment be defined? These questions require in-depth community discussion and consensus.

Submission Proposals for the ETHDenver Brand Hackathon

In this brand hackathon, the team's proposal is to design a brand logo similar to Intel Inside, combined with a marketing promotion plan.

• The logo can serve as a brand asset, requiring applications to prominently display it in the UI in exchange for support provided by the program.
• Its core message is: the application is built on Ethereum and inherits Ethereum's decentralized trust attributes.
• The logo design balances technical and asset attributes, retaining classic Ethereum visual elements while incorporating one of the most communicative ETH narratives — "The Internet You Can Own" (“The Internet You Can Own”), and adding "Powered by Ethereum" to enhance brand communication.

Designed by @pdes_igns

Additionally, marketing promotion needs to be supported by corresponding organizational structures, such as accelerators, alliances, or dedicated BD teams, to ensure the execution of the promotion plan. Ethereum can learn from Intel's collaboration model, providing resource support while establishing clear entry standards to avoid diluting brand assets.

Conclusion

The most important takeaway is that Ethereum needs to adopt practical brand promotion measures to drive a unified marketing plan across the ecosystem. Otherwise, DApps may become independent after reaching a certain stage of development, even distancing themselves from Ethereum, thereby weakening its ecological value. Ethereum should take proactive measures to incentivize projects within the ecosystem to maintain a unified vision rather than relying on spontaneous alignment from the market.

Historically, former social giant Myspace has been eliminated, and once-popular Bored Ape is gradually losing market heat. The establishment of a millennium dynasty relies on the support of tribes. It's time for Ethereum to make its mark.