Vitalik Buterin calls for a fundamental shift in the mindset of the Ethereum-ecosystem to make an impact globally, as Ethereum is moving significantly toward a future focused on layer-2 solutions following the successful Dencun hard fork.

Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, stressed the need for a mindset shift toward developing decentralized applications and solutions at the layer-2 level after the completion of the Dencun hard fork.

Speaking at ETH Global's Pragma London event on March 14, Buterin praised the completion of the network upgrade, which enables L2 rollups to achieve scale by reducing the cost associated with submitting cryptographic proofs to Ethereum's base layer.

Buterin emphasized that although basic rollup scaling has been achieved, further progress will be incremental. He spoke before an audience of more than 500 attendees at the event, which preceded an all-weekend hackathon.

After Dencun's seamless execution without any glitches, there was a clear interest in the next steps for Ethereum from one of its key founders.

The addition of blobs

Buterin reflected on his earlier plans for Ethereum following the transition to proof-of-stake consensus after The Merge by 2022. He emphasized that many of the milestones he had identified were technical tasks, some of which were completed with the completion of Dencun.

Dencun included EIP-4844, which changes the way Ethereum rollups store data on the mainnet. This enhancement allows for cheaper data to be added to blocks by using blob space instead of call data for storage.

Buterin believes Ethereum must undergo a paradigm shift to have a significant impact on the Internet and conventional financial systems. He sees Ethereum's first decade as inward-looking, with the ecosystem primarily focused on insider technological development.

The transition of Ethereum

With the Dencun hard fork, however, Ethereum is moving away from a layer-1 focus to a more layer-2-oriented approach. Buterin also expects Ethereum's base layer to stabilize after a period of rapid change focused on maintenance.

While L1 changes will still be important, the focus should shift to an L2-centric approach, especially aimed at application developers, Buterin said. He also highlighted the growing opportunities for building DApps, including improved scalability and privacy protection thanks to zero-knowledge proofs and other tools.

Buterin encouraged developers to embrace an "Ethereum 2.0" approach, using modern tools and protocols such as L2 rollups to improve application privacy, security and performance.