The Web3 industry is entering a "New Era of Compliance". Are we heading in the wrong direction with our "Mass Adoption"?

Recently, there have been ongoing doubts about Ethereum within the Web3 community. Many believe that Vitalik and the Ethereum Foundation are too focused on technical details, neglecting user needs and commercialization. However, when we shift our focus to the traditional finance sector, we find a completely different scenario.

The concept of "Finternet" (Financial Internet) proposed by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) positions tokenization and blockchain technology as a new paradigm for the future financial monetary system. This initiative has caused a tremendous response in the traditional financial sector, prompting global financial institutions and central banks to accelerate their exploration in areas such as tokenized infrastructure, asset digitization, and payment applications.

The BIS's mBridge project and large-scale public-private partnership projects like Project Agora demonstrate that traditional financial forces are fully embracing blockchain technology and actively promoting its practical application. In contrast, while the Web3 industry shouts about Mass Adoption, it is actually mired in short-term speculation and attention economy.

Looking back at the so-called "hit projects" in the Web3 field in recent years, whether it is MEME coins, GameFi, or SocialFi, they are essentially just packaged speculative games rather than applications that address actual needs. This speculation-oriented "Adoption" is actually just a zero-sum game of wealth concentration among a few, and its unsustainability is evident.

The deterioration of the industry environment, such as frequent hacker attacks and fraud incidents, further highlights that we may be chasing the wrong direction of "Mass Adoption." Payments and finance are undoubtedly the application areas of Web3 technology with the most grounded potential, a consensus that has been reached by traditional finance, governments, and the market.

For Ethereum and the entire industry, the core issue may not be whether the technological direction is correct, but rather whether we truly understand what valuable applications are. Focusing excessively on technological innovation while neglecting market demand, and being keen on creating concepts while drifting away from practical scenarios, raises questions about whether this development direction is correct.

Regulatory compliance is both the biggest challenge and the most promising opportunity. The Web3 industry is gradually transitioning from the "wild era" to the "new era of compliance." This transformation is reflected in the improvement of regulatory frameworks, the standardized participation of traditional financial institutions, the compliance upgrades of infrastructure, and the compliance transformation of Web3 projects.

The future main battlefield of blockchain technology will focus on innovations in payment systems, tokenization of real-world assets (RWA), PayFi, and the integration of DeFi and CeFi. To achieve breakthroughs in real-world applications, it is essential to directly face interactions with regulatory bodies and traditional financial institutions.

The Ethereum ecosystem is facing structural imbalances: infrastructure and technological innovations are continuously stacking up, while the development of the application ecosystem is relatively lagging. It must address the challenges posed by emerging public chains in terms of performance and user experience, while also being wary of the competition from traditional financial forces in the form of compliance public permissioned chains in the actual application market.

How to seek breakthroughs under such dual pressure, maintaining technological innovation while not losing market competitiveness, is a key challenge that Ethereum and the entire Web3 industry must face. We need to rethink our development direction, dedicated to creating real, sustainable value and truly realizing the innovative potential of blockchain technology.