Ethereum's Next Decade: From "Verifiable Computer" to "Internet Property Rights"

Author: Zhixiong Pan, ChainFeeds

At the Ethereum Devconnect ARG, LambdaClass founder Fede delivered a passionate and thought-provoking talk. He discarded the traditional narrative of the "world computer," redefining Ethereum as humanity's first "verifiable computer." Fede argues that this trustless, math- and incentive-based "anti-fragility" is the fundamental bedrock enabling Ethereum to establish internet property rights and support a multi-trillion-dollar "global economic system."

Yet this was not merely a victory lap, but a stark wake-up call. Facing the rise of high-performance blockchains like Solana, Fede warned that the Ethereum community risks "death by complacency." From denouncing the false prosperity of L2s that "don't even work" to criticizing Solidity’s self-destructive developer experience, he urged the community to break out of its information bubbles and reclaim the ambition and fighting spirit of the "Bronze Age." Quoting Intel’s former CEO, he cautioned the audience: in the brutal tech race, only the paranoid survive.

From pushing performance limits toward 1 Gigagas to outlining the architectural vision for Lean Ethereum, Fede presented, with both hardcore technical detail and raw emotion, how Ethereum can maintain dominance over the next decade. This is not just a technical roadmap—it is a defiant battle cry against mediocrity.

Below is an edited transcript of the speech.

Speaker: Fede (LambdaClass)

Today I want to talk about Ethereum's next decade: from the "Verifiable Computer" to the "Global Economy."

Core Definition: Ethereum Is the First "Verifiable Computer"

To me, Ethereum is a verifiable computer.

I've never liked the "world computer" meme. I think AWS or Google are the real "world computers." They have endless capital and servers, but you must trust them. The key difference with Ethereum is verifiability.

Ethereum is the first computer in history where you don’t need to trust computation itself—only mathematical proofs and economic incentives. This gives it a massive advantage over AWS or Google Cloud. In traditional cloud computing, everything relies on trust, and trust can be broken.

A few days ago on Twitter, someone hacked Bing and changed movie lists. If you searched "top 10 movies," you’d see the hacker’s version. In that case, you’re actually trusting the hacker. That can’t happen on Ethereum unless the entire network is compromised—which is extremely hard because you'd have to simultaneously attack multiple teams and client implementations, and everyone would see it happening.

This makes Ethereum anti-fragile. Whether it’s North Korea, other state actors, or private hackers, every attack attempt actually strengthens Ethereum because it keeps running while securing vast amounts of value.

The Transformation Enabled by Verifiable Computing

Verifiable computing enables true internet property rights.

Real ownership: You no longer click "agree to terms" and hand your data to tech giants. Instead, you control everything through private keys. A private key is more reliable than any Terms of Service.

Global neutrality: Chinese developers, Russian traders, U.S. funds, and Argentinian users all compete on the same level playing field.

Foundation for AI: Over the next decade, we will tokenize everything—from art and land to artificial intelligence. This is critical. If the future is AI-driven, hackers will have huge incentives to tamper with AI parameters. We’ll need Ethereum to verify that AI runs as intended.

Status and Product-Market Fit (PMF)

Ethereum has already created a full-fledged economy. It's not just a $300 billion market cap; it processes $3 trillion monthly in stablecoin transactions—three times Visa’s volume.

Our biggest advantage over Visa or the NYSE is composability. All funds, assets, and artworks coexist in one place and can be freely swapped. This creates a flywheel effect. In this sense, Ethereum is less fragmented than global capital markets—and it operates 24/7.

Ethereum’s current product-market fit (PMF) can be summarized as:

1. Decentralized / permissionless verifiability.

2. Privacy (a feature we must build at the core layer).

3. Stablecoins (programmable, private, borderless dollars).

Technical Challenges: The Hard Problems We Must Solve

To keep winning over the next decade, I must voice some technical frustrations. Here are the challenges I see:

1. Performance

We (LambdaClass) are building the Ethrex client. My team just told me we're only 10% behind Reth in performance. Aside from Nethermind, Reth, Geth, and us, most clients struggle with performance.

If we don’t increase hardware requirements for validators, we won’t reach the performance needed to compete with chains like Solana.

This touches a sensitive topic: Gas Limit. For the past three years, we’ve chosen not to raise the gas limit, which has slowed us down. I believe we can go faster while preserving verifiability. This used to be taboo, but now, for the sake of competition, we need to accelerate. If other execution layers can't keep up, we can't wait. Ethereum matters more than any single team.

I’m also reconsidering: Is Ethereum’s goal really to let anyone run a node at home on a $50 Raspberry Pi? I'm not sure. Maybe it's enough if validation costs are low—thousands of dollars, or even just a few—without requiring extreme accessibility.

2. Scalability

I think we should increase the gas limit by 100x. The cheaper it is, the more people use it. YouTube only emerged after the internet got faster.

Also, I’m a big fan of RISC-V and don’t particularly like Solidity. Solidity doesn’t represent Ethereum. While it’s made major contributions, it has serious flaws. I believe RISC-V should become the default standard.

About Layer 2s: Frankly, most L2 tech stacks simply don’t work. You clone the repo and it breaks. The current incentive structure is “launch a token, then abandon it and wait to die.” If you believe in a rollup-centric roadmap, we must make running rollups extremely easy. We’re working to let Ethrex launch an L2 with a single command.

3. Interoperability and Decentralization

When AWS went down recently, some rollups failed too—that’s terrible. The Solana community mocks us, and I get why. We need to move into “Stage 2”: decentralized sequencers, Based Rollups (reusing L1 pipelines to build L2s), and technologies like CommitBoost for pre-confirmations.

4. Privacy

I once got a call from a lawyer warning me I was in deep trouble, so I know this pain firsthand. We must support all developers working on privacy (like Roman, Alexei, and the Samurai Wallet team). If I want my mom to use Ethereum, she shouldn’t have all her transactions exposed to the world. Current rules around privacy development are too vague—we need to fight for clarity together.

5. Security

There are too few maintainers for the Solidity compiler—just one or two people on GitHub. This is the most important programming language for Ethereum, yet it faces severe human resource risk. Solidity is syntactically simple but extremely prone to security bugs. As someone who’s used over 20 languages, writing Solidity feels like shooting yourself in the foot. We need better compilers, or long-term solutions like RISC-V ZKVM.

6. Post-Quantum Era

We’re collaborating with Justin Drake on Lean Ethereum. Compared to Bitcoin, Ethereum has a huge advantage in deploying post-quantum cryptography because we allow multiple client implementations and have a more open community—even if that means making radical changes.

Social and Cultural Challenges: Rejecting Mediocrity

I’m a die-hard Ethereum fan. My company depends on Ethereum. But I must speak plainly:

We need a "Bronze Age" mindset: Don’t assume “we’ve already won or are winning.” Complacency leads to stagnation. Look at Intel—once dominant, now trailing NVIDIA and AMD. We must stay hungry and ambitious.

Break the echo chamber: Science and engineering thrive on open debate. Major decisions like EOF (Ethereum Object Format) shouldn’t be made behind closed doors. Closed-door decisions make it easy for nation-states to infiltrate key decision-makers and control the network (see OpenBSD case).

Learn from competitors: I’ve attended every Solana Breakpoint—not because I support Solana, but because I study our rivals. Linux succeeded by copying Solaris’ strengths and going open source. We need that attitude.

Reject echo chambers: We should pay contrarians. At my company, partners often criticize me—it hurts, but it creates strong feedback loops. Without healthy culture, there can be no lasting great technology.

What Is LambdaClass Doing?

We’re not just complaining—we’re building:

• Latin America & Government Collaboration: In Argentina (Sobra project), Mexico, and Colombia, we’re using on-chain ID for identity verification, KYC, and lending.

• Global Infrastructure: Building passport and property rights systems in Africa and Central Asia (e.g., Uzbekistan).

• Technology Stack: Developing Ethrex (L1 client), an L2 stack based on SP1 and Zisk, a ZKVM with TMI Labs, and privacy-focused and decentralized AI projects.

• Partnerships: Working with IRSA (Argentine real estate giant) to integrate payment channels.

Q&A Session

Q: How does it feel to host Devconnect in Argentina right now?

Happy. Very happy. I’m glad my mother is here—she finally understands what I do. I’m also proud to show the world what we’re building.

Q: What do you think is the most important initiative right now?

Lean Ethereum. I wasn’t fond of the "Ultrasound Money" meme before. But Lean Ethereum is like a cathedral. When I walked through a cathedral in Cambridge with Justin Drake, he asked me: “Do you think people 500 years from now will look at Ethereum’s design the way they look at this cathedral?” I said: “Yes, and you’re one of its architects.”

Q: How much could the gas limit realistically increase in the near term?

Thanks to Nethermind’s incredible engineering (though I dislike C#), plus our work and Reth’s, I believe we can reach 300–400 Megagas on good servers. In the coming years, with continued improvements, we should aim for 1 Gigagas.

Q: You’ve interacted with everyone from governments to developers—what do they have in common?

Even powerful figures who don’t fully understand Ethereum—the royal family, billionaires—they know this is “real.” They trust the “nerds” because nerds aren’t driven purely by money. They see Ethereum as the winner of the future.

Q: Any advice for young builders?

Don’t raise funding until you’ve found product-market fit (PMF). Money is just fuel. Relationships and vision matter more. Work with people who have integrity, passion, and want to build something beneficial for society. Build things you’ll be proud of ten years from now.