Xiao Feng, founder of Wanxiang Blockchain, strongly suggested during a private conversation with Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin that the Ethereum Foundation should establish an office in Hong Kong to re-embrace the Chinese market.

Xiao Feng pointed out that the blockchain developer ecosystem is mainly divided into two camps: the English-speaking world and the Chinese-speaking world. As a pioneer in global blockchain technology innovation, China possesses unparalleled developer resources and market potential. In recent years, the Chinese blockchain developer community has demonstrated remarkable creativity in areas such as smart contracts, DeFi (decentralized finance), NFTs (non-fungible tokens), and Layer 2 scaling solutions. According to the "Global Blockchain Developer Report" released by Chainalysis, China's code contribution from blockchain developers ranks second globally, only behind the United States, and Chinese developers have a participation rate of 28% in Ethereum's open-source projects.

However, since the tightening of regulatory policies in China in 2017, the Ethereum Foundation has gradually reduced its direct engagement with the Chinese market for compliance reasons. Vitalik himself has not set foot in mainland China for years due to legal advice. This "self-isolation" has led to a decline in Ethereum's influence within the Chinese developer community, with some high-quality projects turning to other public chain ecosystems, such as Solana and Polkadot. Xiao Feng sharply pointed out, "Losing the Chinese market is equivalent to losing an important pillar of the global blockchain developer ecosystem, which is an unbearable burden for Ethereum's long-term development."

Since 2024, Hong Kong has significantly increased its policy openness in the virtual asset sector. According to a report by the Hong Kong Economic Journal in May 2025, the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission has approved the operation of seven virtual asset exchanges and has encouraged 31 brokerage firms and 36 asset management institutions to participate in crypto asset-related businesses. Hong Kong digital bank ZA Bank has also become the first bank in Asia to provide cryptocurrency trading services to retail users.

More importantly, Hong Kong's geographical and cultural advantages make it a natural magnet for attracting developers from mainland China. In July 2025, the Web3 Summit held in Hong Kong attracted over 5,000 local blockchain developers, with Ethereum-related technology sharing occupying 40% of the agenda. Xiao Feng emphasized in his public speech, "Hong Kong is not only a financial center but also a crossroads of technology and innovation. Establishing a presence here will not only attract mainland developers but also radiate to the Southeast Asian market, forming a new growth pole."

Vitalik admitted that the Ethereum Foundation's development team in Berlin mainly focuses on underlying technologies such as consensus mechanisms, zero-knowledge proofs (ZKP), and sharding technology. With the upcoming Pectra upgrade in the first quarter of 2025, Ethereum's underlying architecture has matured, and future optimization will focus more on performance improvement and cost reduction rather than disruptive breakthroughs.

In June 2025, DappRadar data showed that the total value locked (TVL) in DeFi protocols on Ethereum had surpassed $200 billion, with NFT market trading volume increasing by 45% year-on-year. Meanwhile, the demand for Web3 applications in the Chinese market is exploding, especially in the fields of gaming, social networking, and digital identity. Xiao Feng believes that the innovative capabilities of Chinese developers in these areas are the "fresh blood" that the Ethereum ecosystem urgently needs.

Xiao Feng also revealed that China's technical departments, government agencies, and developer communities have always maintained a high level of respect for Ethereum technology. Although China has completely banned virtual currency trading, blockchain technology itself has not been denied. The National Development and Reform Commission has issued the "Guidelines for the Application of Blockchain Technology," clearly encouraging the exploration of blockchain applications in areas such as supply chain finance, digital governance, and cross-border trade.

Despite the enticing prospects of Xiao Feng's proposal, the Ethereum Foundation still faces many challenges in returning to the Chinese market. The first is compliance risk. Although Hong Kong's policies are relatively lenient, the mainland's regulation of cryptocurrencies remains strict, and the foundation needs to carefully design its operational model to avoid policy red lines. The second is competitive pressure. Emerging public chains like Solana and Avalanche have already made progress in the Chinese market, and Ethereum needs to offer more incentives to attract developers back.

Opportunities should not be overlooked either. In July 2025, the Ethereum Foundation's second-quarter funding plan revealed that its funding amount in the Asia-Pacific region had increased by 60% year-on-year, with 20% of the funds flowing to projects led by Chinese developers. This indicates that the foundation has begun to reassess the importance of the Chinese market.

As Xiao Feng said in his speech, "The future of blockchain is not in Berlin, nor in Silicon Valley, but in the collaboration of global developers. China cannot be absent." Will the Ethereum Foundation seize this historic opportunity? The answer may soon be revealed.

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