Ethereum 2025 Outlook: Technological Upgrades and Ecological Development

The global cryptocurrency market reached a new peak in 2024, with a total market capitalization hitting a historic high of $3.8 trillion. The price of Bitcoin set a new record of $106,490.1 on December 17, 2024, with various popular coins performing exceptionally well. Meanwhile, the Ethereum ecosystem also had an exciting year, successfully completing the Dencun upgrade, and the market capitalization of ETH saw an approximate increase of 48%.

So, looking ahead to 2025, what important events in the Ethereum ecosystem are worth paying attention to?

Pectra Upgrade

The Ethereum Pectra upgrade is expected to be officially activated in the first quarter of 2025. This upgrade will implement several Ethereum Improvement Proposals, including:

• Precompile for BLS12-381 curve operations
• Provide historical block hashes in the status
• Provide validator deposits on-chain
• Assets that can be triggered by the execution layer
• Move the committee index out of the validation signature
• PeerDAS
• Universal Execution Layer Request
• Increase MAX_EFFECTIVE_BALANCE
• Set EOA account code for a transaction
• Increase the cost of calling data
• Technical protocols related to EOF

It is understood that the Pectra upgrade will fundamentally change the operation of the Ethereum security layer. After the completion of the Pectra upgrade, developers have identified the Verkle Transition as the next key reform area for Ethereum.

Verkle Transition

The Verkle Transition is a significant reform of the Ethereum state data structure. Developers plan to transition all state data from the Merkle Patricia Tree structure to the Verkle structure. This change will enable nodes to generate smaller state data proofs, thereby improving node efficiency, especially suitable for the operation of lightweight nodes, which can reduce maintenance costs.

Development of DeFi

In early 2025, a well-known DEX platform is expected to launch the public mainnet of its Layer 2 solution. This could become the opening act for the DeFi sector of the Ethereum ecosystem in 2025. The solution focuses on decentralized finance (DeFi) infrastructure and is built on the OP Stack, currently running on Ethereum's Sepolia testnet. Since its launch in October 2024, the Sepolia testnet has processed over 50 million transactions and deployed more than 4 million test contracts.

RWA Market Growth

Decentralized Real World Assets (RWA) are expected to further unlock liquidity in 2025, particularly in the fields of real estate and carbon credits, and may open new exploration space in the field of copyright works.

As of December 24, 2024, the total amount of assets locked in RWA has reached approximately $14.9 billion, with over 80,000 asset holders. It is worth noting that in the current RWA market, RWA on Ethereum accounts for as much as 81%, holding an absolute dominant position.

Analysts point out that RWA will be one of the biggest drivers for a strong rebound of Ethereum in 2025.

Stablecoin Continuous Growth

Stablecoins have become one of the most successful applications in the field of crypto assets, primarily relying on blockchains such as Ethereum, Solana, and Tron to facilitate cross-chain transactions. In 2024, the circulating supply of stablecoins is expected to reach 20 billion, and this figure is projected to surpass 40 billion in 2025.

NFT Market Prospects

By the end of 2024, Ethereum-based NFT weekly sales reached $304 million, a month-on-month increase of 76%, accounting for 66% of the total NFT sales for that week. The popularity of some well-known NFT series continues to rise, with the sales of a certain elemental series of NFTs increasing by 226% compared to the previous week.

This trend seems to indicate that the NFT market may welcome new vitality in 2025. Combined with the joint promotion of other emerging applications, some media predict that Ether is likely to reach a new high of $15,000 in May 2025. Let us look forward to the wonderful performance of the Ethereum ecosystem in 2025!