Ethereum's Strategic Transformation: From "World Computer" to "World Ledger"

Ethereum has recently been emphasized as the "world's ledger" positioning, which is not a sudden strategic adjustment, but a transformation that began with the implementation of EIP-1559. Stablecoins account for 50% of the share on Ethereum, further consolidating its status as a financial settlement layer. Let's delve into this transition:

EIP-1559: Redefining Value Capture

The core of EIP-1559 lies in reshaping the value capture mechanism of the Ethereum mainnet. It no longer relies on gas consumption brought about by increased transaction volume, but instead adopts a new model.

Before this, all transactions were concentrated on the mainnet, leading to huge ETH gas consumption, with the daily average of destroyed ETH in 2021 approaching thousands. The mainnet was severely congested, and Layer 2 also had to compete for gas when submitting batch data, resulting in high and unpredictable costs.

EIP-1559 introduced a predictable base fee mechanism, making the batch submission costs for Layer 2 on the mainnet stable and controllable. This not only lowers the operational threshold for Layer 2 but also allows more Layer 2 solutions to rely solely on Ethereum for final settlement.

This change has fundamentally transformed the value capture logic of Ethereum: from relying on the "consumptive growth" of high-frequency trading on the mainnet to relying on the "tax-like growth" driven by Layer 2 settlement demands.

Users no longer pay computing service fees directly to the Ethereum mainnet, but Layer 2 collects user transaction fees and periodically "remits" batches of data to the mainnet and burns ETH. This model is similar to how banks handle daily operations, but large interbank settlements must be confirmed through the central bank system. The central bank does not directly serve ordinary users, but all banks need to "pay taxes" to it and accept regulation.

This is exactly the typical feature of the "world ledger" positioning.

Stablecoins: The Market's Vote of Confidence in Ethereum

According to data platforms, the total market capitalization of stablecoins worldwide exceeds $250 billion, with Ethereum accounting for 50% of the market share. This ratio has not decreased but has instead increased since the implementation of EIP-1559. The reason Ethereum is so attractive to capital is mainly due to its irreplaceable security premium.

Specifically, a certain stablecoin has accumulated $62.99 billion on Ethereum, while another stablecoin has $38.15 billion. In contrast, the total amount of stablecoins on other public chains is relatively small.

The issuer of stablecoins chooses Ethereum not because of its transaction speed or cost advantages, but due to the unparalleled economic security provided by nearly a hundred billion dollars' worth of staked ETH. For institutions managing assets worth hundreds of billions, the high cost of attacking Ethereum is an extremely important consideration.

The massive accumulation of stablecoin funds has formed a self-reinforcing growth flywheel for the Ethereum ecosystem: increase in stablecoin scale → deepening liquidity → more DeFi protocols opting for Ethereum → generating more stablecoin demand → attracting more capital inflow.

From this perspective, the large-scale aggregation of stablecoins on Ethereum is, in fact, the result of global liquidity voting with action, as well as market recognition of its positioning as a world ledger.

Strategic Positioning of the Ethereum Ecosystem

As the Ethereum mainnet focuses on becoming a "central bank" level settlement layer, the strategic positioning of the entire Ethereum ecosystem becomes clear: Layer 2 is responsible for high-frequency trading, while the Ethereum mainnet focuses on final settlement, with clear and efficient division of labor. Each settlement returning from Layer 2 to the mainnet will continue to burn ETH, accelerating the deflationary effect.

However, actual data shows that the daily average burn rate of the Ethereum mainnet has significantly decreased, sometimes even to less than a few hundred ETH. At the same time, the daily transaction volume and profitability of several Layer2 platforms have significantly increased. The reason for this situation is that users have migrated en masse to Layer2, resulting in a decline in the transaction volume of the mainnet. Layer2 collects a large amount of transaction fees daily, but the "protection fee" paid to the mainnet is relatively small.

Nevertheless, this phenomenon does not affect Ethereum's status as the world's ledger. The massive accumulation of stablecoins, nearly 100 billion dollars in security guarantees (28% of the supply staked), and the largest DeFi ecosystem globally all demonstrate that capital chooses Ethereum's settlement authority rather than the trading prosperity of the Layer 2 ecosystem.

The founder of Ethereum seems to have realized this issue and is trying to improve the performance of the Ethereum mainnet to prevent Layer 2 from becoming a development obstacle to Ethereum's overall positioning as a world ledger.

But ultimately, the success or failure of Layer 2 is not directly related to Ethereum's positioning as the world's ledger.

The current emphasis on the term "world ledger" seems more like an official confirmation of an established fact. EIP-1559 was a historic turning point; since then, Ethereum has no longer been a "world computer" but has transformed into a "world central bank."

In other words, if one agrees that the future dividends of cryptocurrencies lie in the integration of on-chain DeFi infrastructure and traditional finance, then Ethereum's positioning as the "world central bank" is sufficient to solidify its status, and the prosperity of the Layer 2 ecosystem is not a decisive factor.