The development direction of Ethereum is quietly changing. Vitalik Buterin's recent statements indicate that this ecosystem's understanding of its positioning has entered a new stage — shifting from maximizing financial efficiency to prioritizing absolute resilience and censorship resistance.

This is not a simple technical adjustment but a philosophical re-evaluation. Traditional blockchain scaling approaches emphasize speed and cost, but Ethereum is rebalancing these values. The core logic is clear: a transaction may be cheap but susceptible to censorship, and a system may be fast but easily shut down. In contrast, permissionless and censorship-resistant features become true scarce resources.

This shift is reflected in three aspects. First is decentralization above all — globally distributed nodes mean no single entity can shut down the network. Second is the promise of code as law — no special permissions or backdoors exist, and all participants have equal rights. Lastly is network resilience — even if some nodes go offline, the remaining distributed infrastructure can self-repair and continue operating.

In reality, what is truly scarce is not cheap transaction space but blockchain space that is decentralized, permissionless, and sufficiently resilient. In turbulent environments, censorship-resistant transactions are far more valuable than cheap ones; in times of crisis, reliable storage outweighs fast storage.

Ethereum’s architecture reflects this philosophy. The base layer remains minimal and robust, with decentralization as the baseline; application layers address efficiency issues through solutions like L2; and L1 focuses on security and finality. This means sacrificing speed rather than weakening decentralization; accepting higher costs rather than risking system shutdown.

When we examine the fragility of the global financial system, the deeper significance of this shift becomes especially important. In an era where traditional systems might collapse during crises, blockchain systems like Ethereum with strong resilience are increasingly seen as a backup option for civilization. This is not a minor technical tweak but a complete rethinking of survival strategies in the digital world.