
Devcon has all the time been a dwelling mirrored image of Ethereum’s enlargement, demanding situations, and neighborhood ambitions. It showcases essentially the most urgent subjects, the latest inventions, and the folk development the way forward for decentralized generation. As Ethereum grows, so too does Devcon.
Two years in the past, proper prior to Devcon VI in Bogotá, the Merge took Ethereum’s consensus from evidence of labor to evidence of stake. Devcon VI targeted no longer handiest at the fulfillment of this milestone, but additionally at the subsequent inventions: early Layer-2 construction, the creation of Account Abstraction (AA), and the upward thrust of 0 wisdom proofs (ZKPs) as a variety of Ethereum.

Speedy ahead to these days, Devcon SEA celebrated the ecosystem’s readiness to take at the subsequent large demanding situations. The content material demonstrated how some distance Ethereum has come, how Ethereum’s L1 and L2s have complex, how UX is making improvements to, and the way second-generation cryptographic primitives are enabling new forms of packages. The tone has shifted from addressing foundational demanding situations to leveraging Ethereum for real-world affect.
On this weblog submit, we’ll discover how Ethereum has grown since Devcon VI, what the important thing results of Devcon SEA are, which demanding situations stay, and the way you’ll give a contribution in order that we will have a good time the following bankruptcy of Ethereum after we meet for Devcon once more.
Taking a look again to Devcon VI: How some distance we’ve got come
Environment the level, let’s replicate on the place we had been simply two years in the past: Devcon VI was once held in Bogotá, Colombia, in October 2022. It introduced the Ethereum neighborhood in combination to handle key technical and governance demanding situations. On the time, the Merge had simply took place, and the development mirrored the party of this transformative milestone and taken with emerging cutting edge applied sciences.
Devcon VI presented primary issues for the primary time, and phrases that many hadn’t been aware of again then:
0 Wisdom Proofs had been presented to a lot of the Ethereum ecosystem. They had been simply turning into sensible and folks began to know their functions. There was once no point out but of alternative cryptographic primitives like Totally Homomorphic Encryption (FHE) or Multi-Birthday celebration Computation (MPC).Account Abstraction was once new and simply introduced. The general public hadn’t heard of EIP-4337, which hadn’t been applied at the moment.The Layer 2 ecosystem was once in its early levels with just a few distinguished L2s like Arbitrum and Optimism, and the L2-centric roadmap was once kicked off.Staking infrastructure was once nascent and there have been nonetheless uncertainties, with staking withdrawals no longer but enabled.Censorship resistance, whilst an previous subject, was once on everybody’s thoughts with discussions round OFAC compliance and Twister Money sanctions
Devcon SEA: Ethereum’s infrastructure is in a position, now it’s time for affect
Devcon SEA was once held in Bangkok, Thailand, in November of 2024. Attendance doubled in comparison to Devcon VI (12,500 vs 6,000 attendees), demonstrating Ethereum’s enlargement and neighborhood energy. One primary function of Devcon SEA was once to deliver all of the Ethereum ecosystem in combination in a single position, foster collaboration, and cross-pollination, and realign the neighborhood to fortify Ethereum for genuine use circumstances and affect at the international.
Since Devcon VI, the continuing use of PoS plus different upgrades like Shanghai and Shapella have lowered power use, fuel charges, and advanced UX. The L2 panorama has expanded, with overall worth locked in Ethereum L2 networks surpassing 51.5billion,a20551.5 billion, a 205% build up from 51.5billion,a20516.6 billion in November 2023. Ethereum’s integration of ZKPs has complex, and we now see extra real-world use circumstances, with DeFi and stablecoins maturing, and gaming, virtual id, quadratic investment, and prediction markets rising.
However during the last two years, the Ethereum neighborhood has additionally debated its route and priorities. Whilst Layer 2s are key for scaling, the upward thrust of recent L2s presented various subcultures, sparking discussions about the best way to take care of cohesion. Many referred to as for a go back to Ethereum’s cypherpunk roots, specializing in privateness, decentralization, and credible neutrality – values that some felt had been overshadowed through viewing Ethereum as a product somewhat than a protocol. There was once a shared urgency to realign on a unified aim.
Devcon SEA aimed to handle those debates through inviting the most productive within the ecosystem to percentage their insights at the maximum related subjects. Over 300 hours of content material from ecosystem professionals, 17 Neighborhood Hubs arranged through the neighborhood, 70 Affect Areas, and 1000’s of conversations in between classes had been held within the lengthy hallways.
Devcon SEA sparked conversations about essentially the most urgent demanding situations for Ethereum, controversies in addition to achievements, and a few large bulletins had been made too. Justin Drake defined his imaginative and prescient of a Beam Chain, and the Argot Collective, which is a brand new group embodying a lot of our shared values of Ethereum, presented itself.
Learn on to find the foremost results of Devcon SEA, and which talks you will have to watch to rise up to hurry if you wish to give a contribution to the rest demanding situations throughout the respective subjects.
Ethereum has scaled and Layer 2s are internet sure for Ethereum
Proto-danksharding, EIP-4844, blobs, and the roll-up centric roadmap – The scaling answers highlighted at Devcon SEA confirmed how some distance Ethereum has come. Layer 2s, that are scaling Ethereum, see genuine adoption. Day-to-day person job has exploded in dimension, and the overall worth locked is rising often. Now we have low charges, and you’ll ship 1, 100, or 1 million greenbacks for not up to a cent. All L2s are and might be secured through the Ethereum L1 Mainnet, which is sturdy and protected with over 1 million validators and hasn’t ever long gone down since its release in 2015.
There’s nonetheless a lot to do to appreciate the rollup-centric roadmap, scale back fragmentation, and build up safety. Watch the underneath talks to determine the best way to give a contribution to fixing those demanding situations for Ethereum’s subsequent bankruptcy:
Ethereum is cypherpunk
Devcon SEA reminded us why we’re right here, and why we’re development a decentralized long term, specializing in values like credible neutrality, privateness, censorship resistance, open get entry to, and a cooperative mindset. Devcon SEA had a complete programming monitor devoted to this philosophy, and the Hacktivism Hub, arranged through the neighborhood.
Talks to observe to stay alongside of the cypherpunk manifesto:
With the exception of cypherpunk values, philosophy and ethos performed a large position at Devcon SEA. With Aya Miyaguchi, the manager director of the Ethereum Basis, increasing at the philosophy of subtraction along with her communicate “Redefining obstacles within the countless lawn,” explaining how the Ethereum Basis works, and a complete programming day devoted to d/acc (defensive acceleration), the philosophy first presented through Vitalik Buterin, specializing in Ethereum as a defensive generation, accompanied through talks about biodefense, decentralized AI, neurotech, and public epistemics.
UX is getting in a position for mass adoption
ERC 4337, ERC 7683, EIP 7702, ERC 3668 are only a few examples of ways Ethereum is turning into in a position for customers. Fuel charges are low, UX is making improvements to, and Devcon SEA made us excited for Ethereum feeling like one chain once more. The neighborhood arranged the Account Abstraction and Adoption Hubs and plenty of talks had been taken with making Ethereum approachable to mainstream audiences.
Social restoration is just the beginning. Watch the underneath talks to be informed how you’ll give a contribution to making improvements to Ethereum’s UX, particularly in case you’re growing a rollup or a pockets, to get on velocity with fresh traits in UX and Account Abstraction:
The time for real-world packages is now
Ethereum is for customers, and the app ecosystem hasn’t ever been more potent than these days, despite the fact that nonetheless, we’re simply tapping into Ethereum’s probabilities for real-world packages. Ethereum is made for lots of issues, and it’s a multi-purpose platform.
Ethereum is house to its maximum mature use circumstances: DeFi and stablecoins. DeFi is monetary products and services and gear constructed on Ethereum that everybody on the planet has get entry to to and that give folks larger keep watch over over their cash. Ethereum has masses of groups operating on DeFi protocols. Stablecoins, too, give each human the liberty to transact and ship worth any place on the planet.
Ethereum may be the place new use circumstances occur and new issues are being invented, it’s “the place concepts input manufacturing” (Josh Stark). Now we have decentralized social platforms, on-chain video games, virtual id with ENS, Anon Adhaar, and zk passport, real-world infrastructure, quadratic investment with Gitcoin and clr.fund, and prediction markets like Polymarket.
Should you had been questioning what are the apps which are recently being constructed on Ethereum, or if you wish to have inspiration to construct extra dapps, listed here are some talks to observe:
Economics of Ethereum and ETH
The discussions at Devcon SEA reaffirmed the non-speculative worth of Ethereum and ETH within the virtual financial system, with its sound financial ideas, tough incentives and alignment with long-term objectives for decentralized ecosystems.
Talks to observe:
2d-generation cryptography allows new forms of packages
Devcon SEA featured 1000’s of cryptographic plushy frogs, dispensed through the 0xPARC workforce across the Frogcrypto Hub. Attendees amassed frogs, and each time they scanned the QR code, they won a provable object knowledge (POD). Every Devcon price tag was once a POD inside Zupass, an utility that permits customers to safely retailer and set up Evidence-Wearing Information (PCD). Those cryptographic ideas had been theoretical for a few years and are in spite of everything turning into imaginable, and blended with Ethereum, we are actually ready to construct packages that had been by no means imaginable prior to. Whilst at Devcon VI handiest ZKPs had been on everybody’s lips, as of very fresh a brand new era of cryptographic primitives like FHE and MPC are getting used to create decentralized, privacy-preserving computation and interoperability, unlocking cutting edge and sophisticated use circumstances for Ethereum-based shopper packages.
We’re handiest now knowing how a lot is imaginable with second-generation cryptographic primitives and probabilities are extending our creativeness. We want extra folks development and mixing ZKPs, second-gen crypto and Ethereum. If you wish to do this, watch:
Ethereum is frontier tech
Devcon SEA was once additionally a platform for interdisciplinary collaboration, the place Ethereum was once mentioned along different frontier applied sciences and within the context of the way forward for our society.
Those classes highlighted Ethereum’s talent to encourage and combine with broader technological and societal demanding situations:
The Ethereum neighborhood is powerful and world
The Ethereum neighborhood is not just rising, it’s increasing globally: At Devcon SEA, we welcomed 12,500 attendees with 60% experiencing their first-ever Devcon. Members represented 135 international locations, making this essentially the most world and various Devcon thus far.
The Ethereum neighborhood is not just various in nationalities and ethnicities – the pursuits, identities, and focal point spaces are manifold with builders, protocol researchers, stakers, degens, regens, activists, artists, educators, and plenty of extra being a part of the Ethereum neighborhood.
Devcon SEA featured 17 Neighborhood Hubs, from the DeSci Hub, International Majority Hub, and Onchain Creators Hub, to the Governance Geeks Hub, those had been manifestations of the variety and techniques to become involved within the Ethereum neighborhood. The Neighborhood Gardeners Hub taken with Ethereum neighborhood developers from everywhere in the international. In 2024, 73 native Ethereum occasions in 44 international locations had been arranged around the world. Our neighborhood is decentralized and world, as Ethereum itself.
Now could be your probability to form the way forward for Ethereum forward to Devcon 8
Devcon SEA was once no longer only a snapshot of the place Ethereum stands these days, it gives a imaginative and prescient of the place it will cross the following day. Devcon SEA confirmed how Ethereum is bringing concepts into motion, and each player carries the teachings discovered at Devcon to proceed spreading the phrase and advancing Ethereum’s venture. And who is aware of, the following particular person to affect the way forward for Ethereum will have first discovered about it at Devcon SEA.
Devcon SEA footage and assets
In finding footage from Devcon SEA right here.You’ll be able to seek and watch all talks within the Devcon Passport app.DEVAi is to be had to respond to all Devcon-related questions, and can quickly have get entry to to all communicate transcripts. You’ll be able to already get summaries of all talks within the Passport app.Need to percentage extra insights about Devcon talks? Cross to the Devcon Collab Portal.
What is subsequent?
Tl;dr:
Devconnect 2025Devcon 2026
Devconnect is the opposite, utterly other match that the Ethereum Basis organizes. Whilst Devcon is the huge match that brings everybody in combination in a single venue, Devconnect is extra decentralized. Devconnect accommodates many alternative occasions, taken with other Ethereum subjects, arranged through professionals in the ones fields. Devconnect is the time to head deep into the subject you’re maximum aware of or wish to grow to be knowledgeable in, and sign up for day-long occasions taken with that area.
The place will Devconnect 2025 and Devcon 8 happen? It is very important wait just a bit bit longer to search out that out, and within the period in-between, you’ll create your proposal for Devcon, Devconnect, or different Ethereum occasions to happen to your town.
Till subsequent time, xoxo
Deva the Devcon Unicorn & the Devcon workforce
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