2026-01-17 07:27:56

The story of Ethereum seems to have gone off track. Over the years, many have noticed a phenomenon: in pursuit of mainstream applications and user scale, this public chain has begun to compromise on some key aspects.

The reality is in front of us. The threshold for running nodes is rising, data privacy issues for DApps are becoming increasingly prominent, and users' wallets are no longer relying on local RPC but turning to third-party services—meaning data is in the hands of others. Even more painfully, block construction is becoming more centralized, with transactions being controlled by a few builders, leading to a decline in transaction inclusivity for ordinary users.

Some are reflecting. What does Ethereum need to regain? Trustlessness and sovereignty—these initial Web3 ideals seem to be gradually diluted. From a technical perspective, improving node accessibility, strengthening privacy protection, and decentralizing construction authority are not new concepts, but their implementation is challenging.

The future of the ecosystem depends on the steadfastness of its original intention.

ETH0,43%

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WalletManager

· 18h ago

The increasing node threshold has long been obvious. The hardware costs for running my own nodes have doubled in the past two years. Now I might as well just outsource multi-signature wallets, as the risk level is acceptable. Ethereum centralization is indeed accelerating, but frankly, the price is still holding, big players are still hoarding, and retail investors shouldn't take it too seriously.

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FUDwatcher

· 18h ago

Centralization trap, where is the promised decentralization? How is it different from traditional finance now?

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ContractCollector

· 18h ago

Honestly, ETH now is like a tamed beast, becoming more docile but also losing its flavor. The node threshold is really incredible; ordinary people simply can't get in. Honestly, to achieve true decentralization, it still depends on how Layer2 and new public chains develop. ETH might not come back. That's why I’m still watching other chains. Whether they can withstand the test of original intention really depends. If you compromise, can it still be called Web3? But then again, most people don't really care about privacy anyway.

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GovernancePretender

· 18h ago

Here we go again, node thresholds, centralization, privacy breaches... Each harsh reality boils down to Eth struggling to find a balance. The feeling of data being held by third parties is really uncomfortable. Is this still called decentralization? Speaking of which, the MEV system also needs to be rectified. Ordinary users are being exploited heavily. While the implementation is difficult, if we delay any longer, the faith might really be lost. What about the original intention? Has it been abandoned?

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SnapshotDayLaborer

· 18h ago

Selling the mainstream dream or staying true to the original intention, that's the question... Really, it's frustrating to see the increasing centralization. What happened to the early ideals? Node entry barriers are rising straight up, ordinary people can't afford to play anymore, so what about decentralization... It's also MEV and third-party services, it feels like it's slowly turning into traditional finance... But on the other hand, truly solving these issues is quite difficult; that's where the difficulty lies.

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