Ethereum completed a critical transformation in 2025 – transitioning from a once "experimental network" to a global financial infrastructure. This is not just a slogan; the data makes it clear.

On the technical level, two major upgrades have brought substantial improvements. Gas fees have significantly decreased, transaction confirmation speed has increased by 8 times, and the overall quality of network availability has jumped to a new level. The Layer2 ecosystem has matured, with transaction fees low enough to be almost negligible, and the locked value in the DeFi ecosystem is nearing 100 billion scale—these figures indicate that the ecosystem is no longer just theoretical.

More importantly, there has been a breakthrough in regulatory aspects. The U.S. SEC has clearly stated that Ethereum does not fall under the category of securities, and stablecoins now have a legal framework. Traditional financial giants like BlackRock and JPMorgan have already deployed products on-chain, with ETF assets under management approaching $30 billion. The entry of large institutions is not a trial run but a real allocation.

Another noteworthy trend is the integration of AI and blockchain. In the future, machine agents will be able to automatically execute transaction logic on the chain, leading to entirely new application paradigms.

For participants, strategies can be considered as follows:

**Base, Arbitrum and other Layer 2 ecosystems** are recent hotspots for ecological explosion, with new applications and traffic concentrating on these chains, providing relatively abundant opportunities for early participants.

**Stablecoins and the RWA track** are major trends. Compliance asset tokenization is becoming the standard choice for mainstream institutions, and projects in these areas will continue to attract capital.

**Mainnet asset status is solid**. Ethereum's role as a settlement layer has been established, and its long-term value support is strong.

**Learning AI + Blockchain Integrated Applications** New protocols and frameworks will emerge one after another, and those who understand these new tools will gain opportunities earlier.

The industry is being redefined, and opportunities are right on the wind. Hold steady on mainstream assets, delve deep into ecological directions, and there will be more stories to tell in 2026.