Is Ethereum still saved? Make it "cool" again

Original title: "The Internet You Can Own"

Author: Tyler

Compiled by: Yuliya, PANews

One of the most promising blockchains in the world has faced challenges at the peak of the cryptocurrency market boom. The Ethereum community has experienced severe tests over the past few years. In 2024, the price of Bitcoin rose from $39,000 to $106,000 (a 2.7-fold increase), while Ethereum rose 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 positioning

The market is currently more inclined to short-term speculative trading rather than long-term investment, and scams are prevalent and speculators are praised. The cyclical nature of the crypto market makes fundamentals eventually dominate the trend again when market sentiment is too pessimistic. Despite the sluggish sentiment on Crypto Twitter, the atmosphere of the Ethereum ecosystem is improving and some positive changes are brewing.

Recently, some members of the Ethereum community launched the ETHDenver brand hackathon, hoping to reshape the market image of Ethereum through crowdsourcing marketing concepts and promote spontaneous promotion of the ecosystem. This move has led to the emergence of the Ethereum marketing team on Telegram, aiming to make up for the lack of market publicity on Ethereum.

From the first principle, the core value of blockchain lies in decentralization, otherwise its efficiency will not be as efficient as that of a centralized database. The charm of blockchain lies in its immutable, trustworthy, neutral, unstoppable and censor-resistant properties that rely on trade-offs on decentralization.

The Scalability Trilemma was a hot topic of discussion from 2016 to 2020, but now, the Scalability Trilemma is rarely mentioned.

This theory points out that in the three aspects of scalability, security and decentralization, only two of them can be achieved at the same time. Most competitive L1 blockchains sacrifice decentralization and security in order to improve scalability, in other words, they become more centralized.

By contrast, Ethereum insists on decentralization, which, overall, seems to be a wise choice. Although the market does not currently value decentralization, users obviously value this. For example, Ethereum is still far ahead of Solana when it comes to stablecoin TVL.

The Rollup solution can inherit the basic security of Ethereum 100% and expand the network size 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 extended using L2.

Ethereum represents all crypto-punk, and it represents a vision of being loyal to the mission rather than speculative casinos.

How does Ethereum win?

What are the problems with Ethereum at present? If its mission is so great, why isn't it reflected in the price? The problem facing Ethereum is how to stick to its philosophy while interacting with crypto fields that have always been underestimated (such as attention economy, Meme, radical marketing, etc.).

After the ICO bubble, Ethereum’s leadership can understandably distance 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 basically ignored and abandoned. But in this process, Ethereum lost its cultural position and was occupied by public chains such as Solana that embraced these elements.

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

1. Make Ethereum “cool” again

Ethereum needs to re-embrace the crypto-punk culture and regain its early rebellious spirit. Vitalik 's best operation is that he once used Milady's avatar, which is very symbolic. Remilia, the organization behind Milady, dominated the crypto-twitter culture, advocated the crypto-punk ending and realized that cryptocurrency is more than just a technical level—it is a complex of politics, economy, computer science, memeology, philosophy, governance and art. Miladys are both cool and avant-garde, and they push socially acceptable boundaries in the name of maintaining online freedom (such as freedom of speech).

The political stance of Ethereum leadership is often criticized for seemingly being disconnected from user needs. Once an enterprise loses user resonance, it will be difficult to succeed.

Why can subcultures like Milady surpass Ethereum itself in terms of influence? The core problem is that Ethereum lacks strong cultural shaping and leadership and is too passive. The best founders are fighting side by side with users and understanding their pain points in depth.

Just study how @charlottefang77 actively conveys dynasty thinking (the purpose is to enhance community status and strengthen values) and how to create conversations that can be understood by all members of the Milady community, 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 major DeFi protocols in the past, showing its lag in ecological construction. Compared with political discussions, Ethereum should return to the crypto-punk ideology and reproduce the early rebellious spirit of cryptocurrencies. 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 it has a clear identity and philosophy: fast and cheap. They embrace KOL and Meme culture, dare to sell themselves/products/concepts, and strive to gain market share. In the current environment, the best way to "either dominate public opinion or be dominated by public opinion" is to defeat competitors with better quality ideas.

Ethereum cannot be afraid of competition, but should fully support excellent projects and communities on the chain, whether it is Meme coins, DeFi applications or NFT projects - customers are always right.

2. Embrace modern communication media and Meme power

Ethereum has few allies in media and social platforms, and these are becoming increasingly important. Ethereum has not yet formed a systematic media cooperation strategy, while Solana is actively embracing media and KOLs. For example, @DegenerateNews is an ostensibly neutral news account, but in fact it keeps publishing good news about Solana. In addition, Blockworks seems to be more inclined toward Solana. This strategy is successful for Solana and disadvantageous for Ethereum.

The Ethereum community is moving to Farcaster, which is a long-term solution, but 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 public opinion positions on X, otherwise its influence will further decline.

3. Clarify the competitive landscape

Ethereum not only has to face Solana, but also compete with Bitcoin L2. Bitcoin emphasizes monetary attributes, and Solana emphasizes technological 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:

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

In contrast, although Ethereum's Account Abstraction concept has been proposed for many years, no wallet can truly block the L2 differences and allow all USDC/USDT to be seamlessly circulated on different L2s. If Ethereum wants to improve the user experience, it must simplify L2 interaction and make its experience closer to the main network.

4. Strengthen ecosystem cooperation

Does Ethereum have a truly effective incubator? Although Consensys is regarded as a supporter of the Ethereum ecosystem, it has failed to promote project development in a bottom-up way. 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 pretty good, but ironically, that's exactly the problem. In an era where social media dominates information dissemination, it seems a bit stupid to expect users to browse FAQ. Ethereum needs a unified information platform, such as a decentralized app store, and ensures that this information is spread on social platforms to directly contact and users.

In the long run, the ideal state is for users to use Ethereum without any sense, just like the infrastructure of the Internet, but waiting for companies such as Apple to integrate is not the best solution, and Ethereum needs to be actively promoted.

Ethereum branding

The Ethereum community needs a simple sentence to describe the functionality of Ethereum. Meme plays a decisive role in information dissemination. Just like Bitcoin’s “digital gold” Meme, people can immediately understand what it means. The answer to this question will guide the direction of Ethereum brand hackathon. Here are some evaluations of brand 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 computers as the notebook or desktop computer in front of them. The concept of "World Computer" is difficult to understand: Is it just a particularly large computer?
• " Digital Oil" - although it seems to be imitating "digital gold", it does convey the function of ETH well, indicating that the value of ETH comes from its practicality and its monetary status as a digital economy, but it is difficult to become the dominant Meme if it relies too much on the framework of Bitcoin.
• " Currency Internet" - The concept of the Internet of Things mainly resonates with engineers, but is too abstract for ordinary users and difficult to understand.
• " People's Internet" - the concept is good, but still too abstract.
• " Incentive 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. It is difficult for ordinary users 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 statement has the most potential. Meet all requirements: Explain the value proposition, easy to understand, and resonate universally. People know the Internet and know that the world's largest tech companies are valuable, what if they could own the Internet itself and buy their "equity"? The Internet is becoming stronger and more popular every year. "Ethereum - the Internet you can have" is trying to balance promoting technology and ETH assets.

Things to note when redesigning your logo

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

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

3. Don’t be too "awakened", because Ethereum focuses more on value delivery and technical capabilities than social ideology.

Intel Inside Inspiration: Ethereum’s Brand and Marketing Strategy

The reason why Intel Inside became a classic case is not just because of branding, but because its subsequent marketing strategy made the entire plan successful. To enable Ethereum to achieve similar achievements in brand building, it is necessary to consider both brand building and marketing promotion .

At the heart of the Intel Inside program is working with computer manufacturers (OEMs) to showcase the Intel Inside logo on their products, thus delivering signals to consumers that the device adopts high-quality, cutting-edge processors. Intel not only provides logos, but also incentivizes manufacturers to adopt this brand strategy through subsidies. In 1992, more than 500 manufacturers have joined the program, and 70% of the related ads showcased the Intel Inside logo. By 2001, Intel had invested $1.5 billion per year (about $2.69 billion at today's value) to the program, making its brand popular.

It is worth noting that Intel adopts a strict brand management mechanism, requiring all partners' advertisements to meet brand standards and even have brand usage specifications up to 100 pages. Any violation will lead to the revocation of subsidies and even the loss of qualifications for cooperation. This decisive market strategy has made Intel a benchmark in the industry and ensured that its brand dominates consumers' minds.

Ethereum’s brand strategy thinking

If the Intel Inside model is applied to the Ethereum ecosystem, DApp is equivalent to OEM, and Ethereum is equivalent to Intel's chip. In order to expand brand influence, Ethereum may need to invest resources of a comparable scale to Intel and adopt a stronger execution strategy.

A key question is: If Intel does not subsidize OEMs that use competitor chips at the same time, should Ethereum fund applications that support multi-chain at the same time?

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 can this degree of alignment be defined? These issues require in-depth discussions among the community and consensus.

Submission plan for ETHDenver brand hackathon

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.

• This logo can be used as a brand asset, requiring the application to be displayed prominently in the UI interface in exchange for the support provided by the plan.
• Its core information is: the application is built on Ethereum and inherits the trust attributes of Ethereum's decentralized.
• Logo design takes into account both technical and asset attributes, retaining the classic Ethereum visual elements, and integrating one of the most communicative ETH narratives - " The Internet You Can Own ", and joining "powered by Ethereum" to enhance brand communication.

Designed by @pdes_igns

In addition, marketing promotion also requires corresponding organizational structures, such as accelerators, alliances or specialized BD teams, to ensure the implementation of the promotion plan. Ethereum can learn from Intel's cooperation model, providing resource support, and establishing clear access standards to avoid dilution of brand assets.

in conclusion

The most important revelation is that Ethereum needs to take practical brand promotion measures to promote joint marketing plans across the ecosystem. Otherwise, DApp may establish its own portal after it reaches a certain stage of development, or even leave Ethereum, thereby weakening its ecological value. Ethereum should take initiatives to inspire 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 its market popularity. The establishment of a thousand-year-old dynasty is inseparable from the support of the tribe. It 's time for Ethereum to show its strength.