If web3 wants to be taken seriously, it should follow Ethereum’s lead | Opinion

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In July, Ethereum (ETH) hit a significant milestone of ten years without downtime. What started as an experiment a decade ago has grown into one of the most significant and influential blockchains globally.

Summary

• Ethereum faces fierce rivals like Solana and Avalanche, but its edge lies not in speed or fees — it’s in governance, transparency, and fiscal discipline.
• The Ethereum Foundation is raising the bar with structured treasury policies and quarterly reports, signaling maturity and accountability as it moves beyond its experimental phase.
• Governance is a survival tool, not a nice-to-have — while many L1s still hide decisions or centralize voting power, Ethereum treats transparency as essential to long-term sustainability.
• The lesson for web3 is clear: credibility, not hype, will decide which networks endure. Ethereum is handing competitors its playbook — but only those who adopt it will stay relevant.

Today, however, Ethereum is no longer the only game in town. It faces increased competition from blockchain rivals like Solana (SOL), Avalanche (AVAX), and newer layer-1s that promise faster transaction speeds, lower gas fees, and smoother user experiences, all challenging its dominance. But while debates are still centred around gas fees and transaction speeds, a deeper lesson is being overlooked.

Despite recent fluctuations, Ethereum’s ability to enact governance, fiscal, and technological reforms continues to set benchmarks that rival networks must eventually measure up to, if they hope to match its credibility and adoption.

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Governance that leads by example

Earlier this year, the Ethereum Foundation announced its plans to adopt a more structured and transparent treasury policy, linking its ETH reserves directly to operating costs and cash needs. Hsiao-Wei Wang, co-executive director of Ethereum Foundation, explained that 2025-26 are “likely to be pivotal for Ethereum, warranting enhanced focus on critical deliverables.”

As part of this plan, the foundation will publish quarterly and annual reports that outline its holdings, investment performance, and key advancements. This is a clear sign of Ethereum’s continued maturity, acknowledging that the stakes are higher and Ethereum has moved past its experimental phase. It now supports a global community featuring more projects, institutions, and enterprises that demand stability.

Ethereum has identified governance as a practical tool for keeping its network accountable while ensuring long-term sustainability. This is in contrast to other networks that reduce governance to an empty ritual or manage treasuries with little oversight.

Ethereum institutionalizes transparency not just as a nice-to-have but as a survival mechanism that strengthens its development. It’s time for the rest of the industry to stop treating it as optional because, without it, protocols will crumble one after another under the pressure of evolution.

Transparent governance isn’t optional

Ethereum has long been the heart of web3, and its status isn’t just about developer-friendly smart contracts. Sure, networks like Solana, Avalanche, Cardano (ADA), and most other leading L1s are marketing themselves as faster and cheaper alternatives, but if they fail to acknowledge their own blind spots, they risk losing credibility.

Competition in this industry isn’t a threat; in fact, it’s fuel. For Ethereum, it’s a chance to confront tough questions: How do you balance decentralization and usability? How do you scale without cutting corners? Ethereum isn’t dodging these issues. Instead of avoiding challenges, Ethereum puts its issues front and center for its community, inviting community feedback, discussions, and debates.

Transparency and fiscal discipline can’t be treated as optional add-ons; they’re essentials. Without them, web3 won’t move beyond its niche crowd. Unfortunately, the industry still lives in the shadow of rug pulls, fraudulent projects, and shallow, hype-driven projects with no real products. Ethereum’s fiscal reform shows that taking a hard look in the mirror, while sometimes inconvenient and painful, is the best path to building protocols that last.

It’s important to remember that Ethereum is an exception, not the rule. Plenty of layer-1 networks continue to struggle with transparency and decentralization, with many failing to acknowledge the problem. Most of the time, decisions are made behind closed doors, leaving people with little to no explanation of what was decided, when, or why. In several proof-of-stakes systems, the problem runs even deeper, as voting power is concentrated in the hands of select validators or entities, further centralizing decision-making, a concept blockchains are trying to move away from.

To avoid this level of centralization, protocols could follow a model where governance discussions are recorded, transcribed, and published, much like board meetings of major corporations. Voting records should also be posted in community forums so people can see exactly how validators, delegates, or token holders voted. That way, it becomes harder for insiders to push through unpopular initiatives.

By publicizing its playbook, Ethereum is essentially giving the competition a head start by providing the recipe for governance and financial blind spots. It’s laying out the pitfalls of protocol maturity so others don’t have to learn the hard way.

Long-term success in web3 will belong to networks grounded in credibility, the space’s true currency. Ethereum’s growing pains are the industry’s growing pains. Projects that take these lessons will build lasting relevance, while the ones that don’t will get lost in the hype.

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