GuShiio.com Ethereum should take proactive measures to encourage projects within the ecosystem to maintain a consistent vision, rather than relying on spontaneous alignment of the market.
Original text:Tyler
Compiled by: Yuliya, PANews
One of the world’s most promising blockchains has encountered challenges at the peak of the cryptocurrency market boom. In the past few years, the Ethereum community has undergone severe tests. In 2024, the price of Bitcoin will rise from $39,000 to $106,000 (a 2.7-fold increase), and Ethereum will rise from $2,200 to $4,000 (a 1.8-fold increase). The ETH/BTC ratio is at its lowest level since the ICO bubble burst in 2018.
Historical ETH/BTC ratio (2016-2025)
Market trend and Ethereum’s positioning
The market currently prefers short-term speculative trading rather than long-term investment. Scams are prevalent and speculators are admired. The cyclical nature of the crypto market allows when market sentiment is excessively pessimistic, fundamentals will eventually re-dominate the trend. Despite the low sentiment on Crypto Twitter, the atmosphere in the Ethereum ecosystem is improving and some positive changes are in the pipeline.
Recently, some members of the Ethereum community launched the ETHDenver brand hackathon, hoping to reshape Ethereum’s market image through crowdsourcing marketing concepts and promote ecological spontaneous promotion. This move led to the emergence of the Ethereum marketing team on Telegram, aiming to make up for the lack of market promotion of Ethereum.
From the perspective of first principles, the core value of blockchain lies in decentralization, otherwise its efficiency is not as efficient as a centralized database. The charm of blockchain lies in its immutable, trustworthy, neutral, unstoppable, and censory-resistant characteristics, which depend on a trade-off in the degree of decentralization.
The Scalability Trilemma was a hot topic of discussion from 2016 to 2020, but today, the Scalability Trilemma is rarely mentioned.
This theory points out that only two of the three aspects of scalability, security and decentralization can be implemented at the same time. Most competing L1 blockchains sacrifice decentralization and security to improve 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 value this. For example, in terms of stablecoin TVL, Ethereum still far exceeds Solana.
The Rollup solution can inherit 100% of Ethereum’s basic security and expand the network scale through L2 or economic zones. Bitcoin plans to expand through Rollup solutions such as BitVM and BitVM2, and Ethereum’s expansion path is clearer. If Solana reaches maximum capacity at the base layer, they also need to be scaled using L2.
Ethereum represents all cryptopunk, and it represents a vision of a casino that is loyal to its mission rather than speculative.
How does Ethereum win?
What are the current problems with Ethereum? If its mission is so great, why is it not reflected in the price? The problem Ethereum currently faces is how to interact with crypto fields that it has historically despised (such as attention economy, Meme, aggressive marketing, etc.) while adhering to its philosophy.
In the wake of the ICO bubble, Ethereum’s leadership understandably distanced itself from anything that could damage its credibility. The focus has shifted to serious use cases such as DeFi, while cultural phenomena such as Meme have been largely ignored and abandoned. But in the process, Ethereum lost its cultural ground and was occupied by public chains such as Solana that embraced these elements.
Ethereum can more actively shape its own culture and promote the development of projects that are consistent 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 to use Milady’s avatar, which is very symbolic.Remilia, the organization behind Milady, dominates the crypto Twitter culture, honors the cypherpunk endgame and realizes that cryptocurrency is not just a technical aspect-it is a synthesis of politics, economics, computer science, memetics, philosophy, governance and art. Miladys are cool and avant-garde, breaking through socially acceptable boundaries in the name of safeguarding online freedoms such as freedom of speech.
The political stance of Ethereum’s leadership is often criticized because it seems out of touch with user needs.Once a company loses user resonance, it will be difficult for it to succeed.
Why can a subculture like Milady surpass Ethereum itself in influence? The core issue is thatEthereum lacks strong cultural shaping and leadership, too passive. The best founders are working side by side with users to deeply understand their pain points.
Just study how@charlottefang77 actively conveys dynastic thinking (with the goal of elevating community status and strengthening values) and how to create conversations that can be understood by all Milady community members, regardless of their status, IQ or technical background. The ability to communicate with all levels of the community is powerful.
The Ethereum Foundation has not even actively used the main DeFi protocol in the past, showing its lag in ecological construction. Compared with political discussions, Ethereum should return to the cypherpunk ideology and recreate the rebellious spirit of the early days of cryptocurrency. This is not only a technological revolution, but also requires cultural and philosophical support so that Ethereum can truly win the future.
Solana has won market recognition because of its clear identity and philosophy: fast and cheap. They embrace KOL and Meme culture, dare to promote themselves/products/concepts, and strive to gain market share. In the current environment,”either dominate public opinion or be dominated by public opinion”, the best way is to defeat competitors with better concepts.
Ethereum cannot be afraid of competition, but should fully support excellent projects and communities on the chain, whether it is Meme coins, DeFi apps or NFT projects-customers are always right.
2. Embracing modern media and the power of Meme
Ethereum has few allies on media and social platforms, and these are becoming increasingly important. Ethereum has not yet formed a systematic media cooperation strategy, while Solana actively embraces media and KOL. For example,@DegenerateNews appears to be a neutral news account, but in fact it constantly publishes good news about Solana. In addition, Blockworks also seems to favor Solana. This strategy has been successful for Solana and bad for Ethereum.
The Ethereum community is migrating to Farcaster. Although it is a long-term plan, it will lead to a decline in influence on X (Twitter) in the short term. Farcaster has not yet attracted mainstream users, and Ethereum still needs to prioritize maintaining its public opinion position on X, otherwise its influence will decline further.
3. Clarify the competitive landscape
Ethereum not only has to face Solana, but also competes with Bitcoin L2. Bitcoin emphasizes monetary attributes, and Solana emphasizes technical advantages. So what is the positioning of Ethereum?
In fact, Ethereum’s core value proposition-decentralization-still has strong advantages, but the market does not understand it clearly enough. Solana is favored for its excellent user experience, mainly due to two factors:
- Phantom Wallet has been widely praised and is considered the most easy-to-use wallet.
- Solana has only one chain, so users do not need to bridge assets between multiple L2s.
In contrast, although Ethereum’s Account Abstraction concept has been proposed for many years, there is no wallet that can truly block L2 differences and allow all USDC/USDT to flow seamlessly on different L2s. If Ethereum wants to improve the user experience, it must simplify L2 interactions and make its experience closer to the main network.
4. Strengthen ecosystem cooperation
Does Ethereum have a truly effective incubator? Although Consisys is seen as a supporter of the Ethereum ecosystem, it has failed to promote project development in a bottom-up manner. In contrast, DeFi Alliance’s support for Solana is more systematic. So, how can Ethereum support potential projects? If no organization assumes this responsibility, decentralization may become a disadvantage.
5. Establish a unified information hub
The Ethereum website is actually quite good, but ironically, that’s the problem. In an era when social media dominates information dissemination, it seems foolish to expect users to browse the FAQ. Ethereum needs a unified information platform, such as a decentralized app store, and ensuring that this information spreads across social platforms to reach users directly.
In the long run, the ideal state is for users to use Ethereum without feeling, just like the infrastructure of the Internet. However, waiting for companies such as Apple to integrate is not the best solution. Ethereum needs to be proactive.
Ethereum branding
The Ethereum community needs a simple sentence to describe what Ethereum does. Meme plays a decisive role in information dissemination. Just like the Meme of Bitcoin’s digital gold, people can immediately understand its meaning."" The answer to this question will guide the development direction of the Ethereum brand hackathons. Here are some evaluations of brand slogans:
- “Web1: Read, Web2: Write, Web3: Have”–Good starting point, but too long.
- “World Computer”–The concept is not intuitive enough and may not resonate. People usually understand a computer as a notebook or desktop in front of them. The concept of a world computer is difficult to understand: Is it just a particularly large computer?
- “Digital Oil”–Although it seems to imitate digital gold, it does convey the function of ETH well, indicating that ETH’s value comes from its practicality and currency status as a digital economy, but it relies too much on Bitcoin’s framework to become the dominant Meme.
- “Money Internet”–The concept of the Internet of Things mainly only resonates with engineers, but it is too abstract and difficult for ordinary users to understand.
- “People’s Internet”–The concept is good, but still too abstract.
- “Motivational Open Source Software”–This Meme is best 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 into it. Ordinary users find it difficult to resonate with.
- “Global settlement layer”–May be suitable for traders and funds, but it is difficult to popularize.
- “Ethereum-The Internet You Can Have”–This expression has the most potential. Meets all requirements: explains the value proposition, is easy to understand, and resonates universally. People know the Internet and know that the world’s largest technology companies are valuable. What if they could own the Internet itself and buy shares in it? The Internet is becoming stronger and more popular every year. 34; Ethereum-The Internet You Can Have attempts to strike a balance between promoting technology and ETH assets.
Considerations for redesigning the Logo
1. Be careful when using 丨 thereum. Most ordinary users will read it as thereum directly. For example, Built on 丨 thereum may cause confusion;
2. Avoid being too “cyberpunk” to alienate ordinary users
3. Don’t be too aware, because Ethereum focuses more on value delivery and technical capabilities than on social ideology.
Intel Inside Enlightenment: Ethereum’s Brand and Market Strategy
The reason why Intel Inside became a classic case was not just because of branding, but because its subsequent marketing strategies made the entire program successful. For Ethereum to achieve similar achievements in branding, we must also considerbrand buildingandmarketingTwo aspects.
The core of the Intel Inside program is working with computer manufacturers (OEMs) to let them display the Intel Inside logo on their products, signaling to consumers that their devices use high-quality, cutting-edge processors. Intel not only provides logos, but also encourages manufacturers to adopt this brand strategy through subsidies. In 1992, more than 500 manufacturers had joined the program, and 70% of related ads featured the Intel Inside logo. By 2001, Intel was investing $1.5 billion a year (approximately $2.69 billion at today’s value) on the program, making its brand popular.
It is worth noting that Intel adopts a strict brand management mechanism, requiring all partners ‘advertisements to comply with brand standards, and even have a 100-page brand usage specification. Any violations will lead to the cancellation of subsidies and even loss of qualifications for cooperation. This decisive marketing strategy has made Intel an industry benchmark and ensured that its brand dominates the hearts of consumers.
Thinking on Ethereum’s Brand Strategy
If the Intel Inside model is applied to the Ethereum ecosystem, DApp is equivalent to OEM, and Ethereum is equivalent to Intel chips. In order to expand brand influence, Ethereum may need to invest resources comparable to Intel’s and adopt a more powerful execution strategy.
A key question is:If Intel does not subsidize OEMs that also use competing chips, should Ethereum fund applications that simultaneously support multiple chains?
Currently, long-standing Ethereum allies such as MakerDAO/Sky, Uniswap and Aave have adopted multi-chain deployment strategies. Does this mean they need to be more “Ethereum-aligned” in their brand partnership plans? If so, how should this degree of alignment be defined? These issues require in-depth discussion and consensus in the community.
Submission plan for ETHDenver brand hackathons
In this brand hackathon, the team proposed a plan to design a brand logo similar to Intel Inside and combine it with a marketing plan.
- The logo can serve as a brand asset that requires apps to be prominently displayed in the UI interface in exchange for support provided by the plan.
- The core message is that applications are built on Ethereum and inherit the decentralized trust attributes of Ethereum.
- The logo design takes into account both technical and asset attributes, retaining the classic Ethereum visual elements and incorporating one of the most communicable ETH narratives–“The Internet You Can Own”(“The Internet You Can Have”), and add “Supported by Ethereum” to enhance brand communication.
Designed by @pdes_igns
In addition, marketing promotion also requires a corresponding organizational structure, such as accelerators, alliances or a dedicated BD team, to ensure the implementation of the promotion plan. Ethereum can learn from Intel’s cooperation model, not only providing resource support, but also establishing clear access standards to avoid diluting brand assets.
conclusion
The most important revelation is that Ethereum needs to take practical brand promotion measures to promote an eco-wide joint marketing plan. Otherwise, DApp may establish its own business after developing to a certain stage, or even leave Ethereum, thus weakening its ecological value. Ethereum should take proactive measures to encourage projects within the ecosystem to maintain a consistent vision, rather than relying on spontaneous alignment of the market.
Historically, the former social giant Myspace has been eliminated, and the once-popular Bored Ape has gradually lost market popularity.The establishment of a thousand-year-old dynasty was inseparable from the support of the tribe. It’s time for Ethereum to show off.
