"Ethereum will go to zero in 2026"—this argument has been trending fiercely lately, but a calm look shows that this judgment is actually exaggerated. The so-called "dead end" theory completely misses where Ethereum's current competitiveness lies.

First, let's talk about the role of L2. Many people see L2 as a vampire, believing that Layer 2's traffic diverts transactions from the mainnet. Actually, that's not correct. After the Fusaka upgrade, Ethereum's mainnet Blob capacity increased eightfold, and the storage costs for L2s are nearly zero. Gas fees for leading L2s like Base and Arbitrum have dropped to around 0.001 cents. The mainnet no longer processes small transactions, but it has become the "ultimate settlement layer" for all L2s—similar to the TCP/IP protocol at the internet's core, serving as the infrastructure of the entire ecosystem. The more active the L2 ecosystem, the greater the demand for mainnet settlement, which can actually enhance ETH's value capture ability.

Solana looks fierce, but it's not that simple. Theoretically, 100,000 TPS sounds impressive, but there are only 2,300 verified nodes, making centralization risks obvious. In 2022, it experienced outages more than 10 times. Stability is indeed a major flaw. Comparing to Ethereum, after two rounds of upgrades like Pectra and Fusaka, transaction performance has improved qualitatively. Look at DEXs like Hyperliquid, with daily trading volumes reaching $20 billion. If you're a developer, it's obvious which to prioritize: ecosystem maturity or security.

The contradiction between regulation and decentralization? Actually, there's a solution. The Glamsterdam upgrade in 2026 will enable "stateless clients," allowing ordinary computers to participate in validation, further strengthening decentralization. Another variable is ETH staking. Once ETH staking ETFs are approved (a very strong expectation), annual yields of 4%-6% will attract large institutional funds, pushing staking rates to 40%, significantly reducing circulating supply and truly supporting the value.

Ultimately, Ethereum in 2026 is not heading into a dead end but entering a critical period of technological upgrade and ecosystem iteration. The "going to zero" theories simply overlook the network effects and technological resilience. Instead of obsessing over the pains of transformation, it's better to recognize the upgrade opportunities—this is the rational attitude.