Ethereum News Today: Ethereum set to become global digital infrastructure by 2035

Ethereum’s 2035 outlook has sparked a wide range of insights from industry experts, developers, and enterprise leaders. As the platform approaches its 10th anniversary, the narrative is shifting from experimentation to infrastructure, with many predicting Ethereum will evolve into a foundational layer for global digital systems.

According to Sam McIngvale of OP Labs, head of product at Optimism, the next decade will see a widespread shift of enterprises onto blockchain, with many building their own infrastructure on top of Ethereum [1]. This aligns with a broader view that the platform is transitioning from a smart contract experiment into the backbone of enterprise, finance, and digital interaction. Marcin Kaźmierczak of RedStone also anticipates Ethereum moving beyond decentralized finance (DeFi) to become the foundation for institutional finance and real-world asset tokenization [1].

Mallesh Pai, chief economist at Consensys, emphasizes that Ethereum will evolve into the base layer of the future global economy. He notes that growth will be driven by the digitization of assets, starting with stablecoins and moving up the risk stack. The key, he argues, is not just technological innovation but also the continued contributions from both current and new institutional and commercial builders [1].

On the commercial front, companies like GameSquare are making long-term bets on Ethereum. CEO Justin Kenna cited the platform’s strong community and composability as key reasons for investing in ETH. He envisions Ethereum becoming the financial and cultural backbone of the internet, powering global payments, entertainment, gaming economies, and digital identity [1].

Meanwhile, Coinbase’s Nemil Dalal points to the role of builders in shaping Ethereum’s future. He anticipates new use cases, such as AI agents transacting on behalf of users and richer onchain social communities. The continued participation and innovation of the Ethereum community are seen as critical to the platform’s ongoing success [1].

Technical improvements are also a focal point. Vitalik Buterin has outlined five core ideas for Ethereum’s evolution, aiming to enhance speed, scalability, and privacy [4]. Continued development of layer-2 solutions and potential new virtual machines could further scale Ethereum while making it more accessible to developers.

Despite the strong consensus on Ethereum’s foundational role, price projections remain varied. One report suggests Ethereum could reach $50,000 to $100,000 by 2035 [2], while others, like an analysis from CCN, suggest a more extreme scenario of $2.5 million per token—though this is described as “extremely unlikely” [3].

The question of Ethereum’s future structure—whether it remains dominant, is replaced, or adopts a modular architecture—continues to fuel debate. However, the common thread among all perspectives is that Ethereum is no longer just a smart contract platform; it is becoming a critical infrastructure layer for the digital world.

Sources:

[1] [Ethereum 2035: How the Next 10 Years Might Look](https://cointelegraph.com/news/ethereum-2035-how-the-next-10-years-might-look)

[2] [What Will Ethereum Look Like in 2035? Experts Weigh In](https://beincrypto.com/ethereum-future-in-2035/)

[3] [We Asked ChatGPT Where Ethereum Will Be in Another 10](https://www.ccn.com/news/crypto/ethereum-tenth-birthday-chatgpt-in-10-years/)

[4] [Vitalik's 5 Core Ideas for Ethereum's Future in 2025](https://phemex.com/blogs/eth-10th-anniversary-vitalik-5-ideas-ethereum-2025)