Ethereum Ecosystem Outlook 2025: Coexistence of Technological Upgrades and Market Opportunities

In 2024, the total market value of global crypto assets reached a historic high of $3.8 trillion. Bitcoin's price peaked at $106,490.1, and various popular coins performed impressively. The Ethereum ecosystem also had a remarkable year, successfully completing the Dencun upgrade, with a market value growth of approximately 48%.

Looking ahead to 2025, there are several important events in the Ethereum ecosystem that are worth paying attention to:

Pectra Upgrade

The Pectra upgrade is expected to be activated in the first quarter of 2025, including multiple Ethereum improvement protocols:

• BLS12-381 curve operation precompiled
• Provide historical block hash in status
• On-chain validator deposit
• Assets triggered by the execution layer
• Adjust the validation signature structure
• PeerDAS Protocol
• General Execution Layer Request
• Increase maximum effective balance
• Set EOA account code for trading
• Increase the cost of call data
• EOF related technical protocols

These upgrades will fundamentally change the way the Ethereum security layer operates. Once completed, developers will shift their focus to the Verkle Transition.

Verkle Transition

Verkle Transition is a significant reform of the Ethereum state data structure, transitioning data from the Merkle Patricia Tree to the Verkle structure. This will generate smaller state data proofs, improve node efficiency, and reduce the maintenance costs of lightweight nodes.

DeFi Development

A well-known DEX plans to launch its Layer 2 solution's public mainnet in early 2025. The solution is built on the OP Stack and runs on the Ethereum Sepolia testnet. Since its launch in October 2024, the testnet has processed over 50 million transactions and deployed over 4 million test contracts.

RWA Potential

Decentralized real-world assets (RWA) are expected to release huge liquidity in areas such as real estate and carbon credits, and may open up new horizons in the field of copyrighted works. As of December 2024, the total amount of RWA locked is approximately $14.9 billion, with over 80,000 asset holders. Ethereum holds an 81% dominant position in the RWA market.

Stablecoin Growth

Stablecoins have become one of the most successful applications in the field of cryptocurrency assets, primarily relying on mainstream public chains such as Ethereum. The circulating supply of stablecoins is expected to reach 20 billion in 2024, and it may exceed 40 billion by 2025.

NFT Market Active

By the end of 2024, the weekly sales of Ethereum NFTs reached $304 million, a month-on-month increase of 76%, accounting for 66% of the total NFT sales for that week. Some well-known NFT series saw significant sales growth, such as a certain element series with a month-on-month increase of 226%. This trend may indicate that the NFT market will continue to thrive in 2025.

With technological upgrades and the push of emerging applications, some analyses suggest that the price of Ethereum is expected to break through $15,000 by May 2025. Let us wait and see, and witness the future development of the Ethereum ecosystem together.