Paradigm Asks Ethereum to Accelerate Protocol Upgrades While Preserving Core Values

Paradigm, a prominent crypto venture capital firm, has urged Ethereum developers to speed up protocol upgrades to adapt to changing market demands without compromising the network’s core principles.

In a blog post published on January 25, Paradigm emphasized the need for Ethereum to adopt a more agile approach to innovation.

“We think Ethereum’s core protocol could be improving much faster,” the firm stated. “There are many high-impact improvements that Ethereum can start accelerating towards today without sacrificing its values.”

Ethereum Implements One Major Protocol Annually

Historically, Ethereum has implemented about one major protocol change annually.

Paradigm argued that this pace could be significantly increased, citing the network’s vast resources, including skilled researchers and engineers.

The firm noted that debates about trade-offs in values, such as decentralization versus efficiency, could lead to unnecessary rigidity and slow progress.

Paradigm highlighted the importance of Ethereum’s foundational values—decentralization, openness, and neutrality—but stressed that advancing the protocol is essential for pushing blockchain innovation and fulfilling Ethereum’s ambitious roadmap.

To that end, the firm advocated for developments such as Ethereum layer 2 solutions inheriting security from the base layer through native rollups.

Interestingly, on the same day as Paradigm’s blog post, executives from Ethereum’s layer 2 projects agreed to prioritize such enhancements.

The venture capital firm also called for improvements in wallet infrastructure to simplify user interactions.

Specifically, it proposed eliminating the need for users to remember private keys, which could enhance accessibility and security.

Additionally, Paradigm urged Ethereum to scale without modifying the block gas limit, which governs transaction capacity.

ETHEREUM ACCELERATION .

With @matthuang, @danrobinson & @_charlienoyes. pic.twitter.com/5TJq3G7HhX

— Georgios Konstantopoulos (@gakonst) January 25, 2025

Meanwhile, the Ethereum Foundation announced it would allocate 50,000 Ether, worth approximately $160 million, to support the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem.

The move aligns with a recent statement by Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, who revealed plans for the foundation to undergo organizational changes aimed at increasing developer support and improving transparency.

Buterin Unveils Leadership Overhaul at Ethereum Foundation

Earlier this month, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin announced significant leadership changes at the Ethereum Foundation, aiming to prioritize technical expertise and strengthen collaboration with developers in the ecosystem.

The announcement, made on January 18 via an X post, outlined a vision to support decentralized application developers while upholding Ethereum’s core principles of decentralization, censorship resistance, and privacy.

Buterin emphasized that the Ethereum Foundation will avoid political lobbying or ideological shifts, maintaining its decentralized ethos.

The leadership shift follows a challenging year in 2024, during which the Foundation faced criticism over its spending practices, roadmap execution, and personnel policies.

A key turning point came in May 2024 when the Ethereum Foundation introduced a conflict-of-interest policy after several researchers, including Justin Drake and Dankrad Feist, accepted paid advisory roles at EigenLayer Foundation.

According to L2Beat, Ethereum now hosts 55 layer-2 rollups.

However, this proliferation raised concerns among stakeholders, who argued that layer-2 networks were cannibalizing revenue on Ethereum’s base layer.