Ethereum Foundation: Expanding University Investment, Warning of AI Governance Risks, and Confirming L2 Diversity as a Long-term Strategy

Foresight News: During the Devconnect ETHEREUM DAY livestream, Tomasz Stanczak, Co-Executive Director of the Ethereum Foundation, delivered a keynote speech titled "EF & Ethereum Update".

Tomasz stated that the Ethereum Foundation will significantly expand its support for universities and research institutions worldwide, covering schools in Asia, Latin America, and emerging regions, with a focus on cultivating the next generation of researchers in areas such as cryptography, privacy computing, and mechanism design. He mentioned that academia has long provided core talent for Ethereum, and the Foundation will invest more resources in the future.

On the governance front, Tomasz emphasized the structural risks brought by the AI era, stating that "AI agents may squeeze the space for human governance," which is one of the high-level challenges Ethereum will face in the next decade. The community needs to rethink governance models to cope with an increasingly complex environment.

Regarding the ecosystem structure, he pointed out that Ethereum will continue to maintain a diversified Layer2 competitive landscape. Such volatility and experimentation are important sources of vitality for the ecosystem, and the Foundation will not push for a unified single path. He also mentioned that several global financial institutions are promoting the gradual migration of traditional finance to blockchain and digital asset architectures internally.

Tomasz expressed his gratitude to the many builders who have contributed to the Ethereum ecosystem, stating that they form the foundation of Ethereum's actual growth. The key to Ethereum's next decade is not a single technological breakthrough, but the continued expansion of broader public goods. Tomasz concluded by encouraging more new developers to enter the ecosystem by starting to use Ethereum.