Dialogue with Vitalik, Xiao Feng, Aya Miyaguchi, and Joseph Chalom: From "Principle of Subtraction" to Agent Economy | Ethereum Application Summit Highlights

On April 22, the "Ethereum Application Summit" hosted by the Ethereum Applications Guild (EAG) took place on the main stage of the Hong Kong Web3 Carnival. Builders, researchers, and application promoters from various levels of the Ethereum ecosystem gathered to discuss "what the next phase of Ethereum should build," exploring the real directions and long-term opportunities forming in the application layer.

As Ethereum's infrastructure matures, industry focus is gradually shifting from foundational capability building to the application layer. Against this backdrop, the event focused on real application progress and practical experiences, engaging in discussions around the most critical questions: What trends are emerging, what key challenges remain, and how can applications further integrate into the real world?

Here are the key insights shared by the fireside chat guests.

Vitalik Buterin: Toward Full Stack Open Source Security and AI-Driven "Soft Sovereignty" Era

In a fireside chat with Dr. Xiao Feng, Vitalik Buterin focused on the future development direction of Ethereum, as well as the significance of AI, hardware, security, and privacy computing for the blockchain ecosystem. He stated that Ethereum is rethinking the issue of "Full Stack Open Source Security," meaning that security exists not only at the blockchain protocol layer but also includes browsers, operating systems, hardware wallets, and even chip layers. As blockchain applications increasingly enter the real world, hardware security and hardware acceleration will become indispensable infrastructure. At the same time, he believes Ethereum needs to continue "simplifying" in the future to lower the barriers for ordinary users and developers. The past internet saw an evolution from command line interfaces to GUIs and then to mobile internet apps, and the emergence of AI may bring about a "command line in the age of natural language"—where users can invoke a multitude of different programs and services built by developers using only natural language. He predicts that future AI wallets, AI user interfaces, and natural language-based on-chain interactions will become new directions.

Regarding security and protocol levels, Vitalik believes that AI is simultaneously enhancing the capabilities and risks of blockchain systems. On one hand, AI can assist in formal verification, smart contract auditing, and core protocol development, making complex verifications that were previously nearly impossible a reality; on the other hand, AI will also significantly enhance vulnerability discovery and attack capabilities, thus "security" is not only a technical issue but also one of whether developers are willing to choose secure architectures. He mentioned that important goals for Ethereum's next phase include faster finality, quantum-resistant capabilities, stronger decentralization, and higher protocol security, with extensive work advancing AI and formal verification in conjunction. Additionally, he believes Ethereum's core competitiveness will still revolve around security and trustworthiness. Compared to other newer chains that emphasize performance and efficiency, Ethereum should focus on doing "things only Ethereum can do," including decentralization, security, privacy protection, and trustless infrastructure capabilities.

On the integration of privacy computing and AI, Vitalik stated that zero-knowledge proofs (ZK) have already entered a relatively mature stage, while fully homomorphic encryption (FHE) is developing rapidly, albeit slightly later. He believes that the future combination of AI, FHE, and blockchain will truly support real-world scenarios such as healthcare, IoT, and data collaboration. For instance, medical data requires both AI's analytical capabilities and must meet extremely high privacy protection standards, while blockchain can further provide a permissionless and trustless data collaboration and value exchange mechanism. He also emphasized that the core reason for the Ethereum Foundation's recent update of its mission and values is the hope to continue upholding the principles of decentralization, privacy, autonomy, and open collaboration in the rapidly developing era of AI and digitalization. He proposed the concept of "Soft Sovereignty," believing that future technology should not only improve efficiency but, more importantly, enable users to truly own and control their assets, data, and digital lives, which is also the core value that Ethereum has long upheld.

Discussing the establishment of the Ethereum Applications Guild (EAG), Vitalik mentioned that as the Ethereum ecosystem continues to expand, its long-term development requires more independent organizations, developer communities, and application teams to work together. He believes EAG can undertake many tasks that the foundation is not suited to directly promote but that are critically needed for ecosystem development, including promoting innovation at the application layer, connecting traditional industries with the blockchain world, supporting global developer collaboration, and facilitating regional ecosystem building. He also expressed hope that in the future, there will be more independent organizations like EAG within the Ethereum ecosystem to promote the long-term development and open collaboration of the Ethereum ecosystem in various directions.

Dr. Xiao Feng believes that Ethereum is entering a new phase, transitioning from "infrastructure building" to "real application landing," and the key to this process lies in continuously lowering technical barriers and enhancing user experience. Using the development history of the internet and operating systems as an example, he pointed out that the widespread adoption of technology often relies on the simplification of interaction methods. From command lines to graphical interfaces, and then to mobile internet era apps, complex systems eventually get encapsulated into products that ordinary users can easily use. In his view, Ethereum's future development also needs to further automate and intelligently enhance wallets, smart contracts, and on-chain interactions. As AI and natural language interactions develop, future users may not need to understand the underlying technology, but simply express their needs in natural language, and AI will automatically invoke on-chain protocols and applications to complete operations, allowing more ordinary individuals to truly enter the Web3 world.

At the same time, Ethereum's development should not only pursue efficiency but should continue to uphold core values such as decentralization, security, and user autonomy. He emphasized that the combination of AI, privacy computing, and blockchain will bring new possibilities for real scenarios such as healthcare and data collaboration, while technologies like zero-knowledge proofs, fully homomorphic encryption, and quantum-resistant cryptography are gradually meeting the conditions for moving toward practical applications. In this process, L1 should continue to focus on security and decentralization, while L2 and the application layer should be responsible for meeting the performance and functionality requirements of different scenarios. He also pointed out that as the scale of blockchain applications expands, the importance of hardware, security, and cryptographic infrastructure will continue to rise, and the Ethereum ecosystem will need more organizations like EAG in the future to promote application innovation, industry collaboration, and global ecosystem development.

Aya Miyaguchi: Promoting the Long-Term Evolution of the Ethereum Ecosystem through the "Principle of Subtraction"

Aya Miyaguchi, Chair of the Ethereum Foundation, and Audrey Tang, Executive Director of the Ethereum Applications Guild (EAG), held a fireside chat discussing the evolution of Ethereum ecosystem governance, application development, and the role of the foundation. Aya elaborated on the "Principle of Subtraction" in the "Ethereum Foundation Mission Statement" (EF Mandate). This means that the EF will increasingly shift to a supportive role in areas that are relatively mature or where the community has the capability. For instance, the EF initially developed wallets and the Geth client but has gradually shifted its goal to allow market competition to naturally produce better tools as the ecosystem has developed. She described the EF's role as "one of many gardeners in the ecosystem," rather than a central driving force in the ecosystem.

At the same time, Aya pointed out that "real applications" are usually built on Ethereum's core values, including resistance to censorship, open source, security, and privacy protection. She emphasized that Ethereum's security is foundational to achieving meaningful widespread applications; and that "long-term resilience" is more important than "short-term incentives"—the core concept being that Ethereum should be able to withstand the "walkaway test" and possess the ability to sustain itself over spans of ten years or more.

Furthermore, she particularly highlighted the importance of the "local-first" strategy, believing that organizations like EAG can leverage deep local ecological resources to generate global impact and a "addition" effect through local knowledge and talent.

Joseph Chalom: Unleashing Ethereum's Productivity and Paradigm Shift of the Agent Economy

Henry Chen, CBO of SNZ, engaged in a dialogue with Joseph Chalom, CEO of SharpLink, discussing the institutional path of Ethereum and the future of the "agent economy" driven by AI Agents. Joseph firmly believes that Ethereum represents the underlying architecture of the future global capital market and considers Hong Kong an ideal place for building a long-term digital economy due to its capital, talent, and stable regulatory advantages. He pointed out that the biggest difference between Ethereum and Bitcoin is "productivity": Bitcoin serves as a value storage, while ETH has the unique property of generating yield through staking, which is highly attractive to institutions. SharpLink considers ETH as an institutional-grade reserve asset and achieves nearly 100% staking, aiming to provide transparent and sustainable on-chain yields for holders.

Regarding the explosion of AI technology, Joseph depicted the upcoming "agent economy" era: by 2027, people will directly use bank accounts supported by Web3 wallets and AI Agents, which will tirelessly execute automatic commands such as capturing the highest yields, balancing investment portfolios, and purchasing RWA. He encourages daring to transcend existing technological frameworks while respecting security and decentralization principles to build the future of finance.

The Ethereum Application Summit successfully concluded in Hong Kong. As Ethereum's infrastructure gradually matures, the application layer is becoming the core driver for the next phase of ecosystem development. The official launch of the Ethereum Applications Guild (EAG) also marks the formation of an open collaborative network aimed at global builders. In the future, with more real applications being developed and interdisciplinary integration occurring, the Ethereum ecosystem will continue to accelerate towards a broader real world.

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