Vitalik Buterin has largely stepped back as the Ethereum development community has flourished. At the beginning of 2019, the concept of open finance (i.e., DeFi) became a prevailing narrative for the platform as projects from MakerDAO to Compound Finance surged in popularity.
However, scaling issues still persist, and Ethereum is currently undergoing its long-awaited transition into a proof-of-stake (PoS) network to meet network demands. As part of the roadmap to ‘Serenity,’ the ultimate destination of a sharded PoS Ethereum, the community recently moved forward with its “Constantinople” upgrade.
With the code for Ethereum 2.0 set to be finalized this summer, Ethereum joins a class of emerging PoS blockchain networks at the convergence of scalability and interoperability. A behemoth in the cryptocurrency community, Ethereum’s future is sure to play a critical role in the broader ecosystem with powerful externalities on the underlying technology’s future direction.