Anthony Sassano on The Past, Present, And Future of Ethereum

Today, we’re diving into the story of Ethereum—its past, its present, and its ambitious path forward with a core leader of the community, and founder of The Daily Gwei, Anthony Sassano.

Ethereum’s evolution is a tale of resilience and innovation. From surviving brutal bear markets to leading the charge with decentralized applications and L2 solutions, this ecosystem has seen it all. During the relatively quiet 'onchain' years of 2018-2019, a core group of believers kept the flame alive, laying the foundation for the explosive growth that followed. DeFi summer in 2020 validated Ethereum’s use cases and silenced doubters, showcasing the power of DeFi and onchain speculation.

Now, Ethereum is in a peculiar spot. Different takes are flying around about the long-term future of Ethereum's roadmap left and right.

Where do we go from here?

Ethereum’s narrative is more than market cycles—it’s about scalability, usability, and vision. The rollup-centric roadmap has become the centerpiece of its scaling strategy, enabling L2s to contribute back to the ecosystem while extending Ethereum’s reach. At the same time, the importance of improving the L1, scaling danksharding and fixing interoperability has sparked deeper conversations around aligning incentives and building standards that will sustain long-term growth.

During the pod, we also discuss the next frontier: AI agents. These are poised to dominate onchain activity, demanding exponential blockspace scaling and driving Ethereum’s evolution into a global value layer.

In today’s piece, we’ll explore what it takes to onboard the next billion users, how Ethereum aligns the efforts of its community and L2s, and what the rise of AI means for the future of blockchains. Along the way, we’ll reflect on how Ethereum has managed to balance technical innovation with cultural staying power.

Enjoy.

The Rollup