Ethereum Foundation: Ethereum is a "community ladder," and the Foundation is responsible for "keeping the ladder steady"

Foresight News reported that during the Devconnect ETHEREUM DAY livestream, Hsiao-Wei Wang, Co-Executive Director of the Ethereum Foundation, delivered a keynote speech titled "EF & Ethereum Update." She likened the ten-year-old Ethereum to "a staircase continuously built higher by the community." It does not promise an endpoint, but instead provides developers and users with an open upward path, where each new step contributed by builders becomes the starting point for those who follow.

Hsiao-Wei pointed out that the Ethereum Foundation is entering a new phase characterized by "reliability, flexibility, and governance responsibility." She emphasized that the Foundation does not control Ethereum, but rather maintains an environment where innovation can happen organically, with reliability being the foundation for ongoing ecosystem development. She described her role as "enabling others to climb higher," and stated that the Foundation will continue to undertake the fundamental work of "keeping the staircase stable."

When discussing community structure, Hsiao-Wei stated that Ethereum's growth comes from the composite contributions of multiple entities: from research teams, client developers, and application builders to scholars, students, and local communities. She stressed, "Ethereum's success is not because any one team owns it, but because no team can own it alone." She reviewed the Foundation's long-term investment in zero-knowledge proofs, client diversity, and early exploratory technologies—directions that were once uncertain but have now become core infrastructure. She reiterated that true decentralization, credible neutrality, and resilience are Ethereum's non-negotiable values, and if these principles are undermined, "the entire staircase will be shaken."

Hsiao-Wei believes that Ethereum has now become a platform for nurturing new assets, identities, cultures, and ways of collaboration. She expects the trend of expanding real-world applications to continue into 2026 and said that Ethereum has become more stable and friendly for new developers. Finally, she thanked the community for its contributions and stated that the next decade will be shaped by even more new developers joining in.