Ethereum Delivers Results Beyond Words: 35 Achievements Highlighted with Privacy, AI, and RWA

[Block Media Reporter Ham Ji-hyun] The Ethereum Foundation has emphasized the practical expansion achievements of the network by unveiling 35 major projects launched, upgraded, or announced within the Ethereum ecosystem during August. These include various cases ranging from BlackRock's tokenized money market fund to privacy technologies and AI agent payments.

On the 4th, the Ethereum Foundation introduced the news of project launches and upgrades within the Ethereum ecosystem up to August through its official X account, stating, "Ethereum is for shipping."

Notable areas include institutional finance and real-world assets (RWA).

BlackRock, the world's largest asset management firm, launched the "BlackRock Select Treasury Based Liquidity Fund (BSTBL)" that offers tokenized equity classes on the Ethereum mainnet. BlackRock officially launched BSTBL and other tokenized money market products on the 3rd of last month.

Additionally, Uniswap introduced "v4 Permissioned Pools" to support trading of regulated assets on decentralized exchanges (DEX). This allows for the limitation of swap and liquidity provision participants through an allowlist while maintaining the permissionless structure of the Uniswap protocol itself. Partners such as Superstate and Securitize participated in the launch.

Coinbase also launched a tokenized stock service targeting users outside the U.S. on Base. The tokens are structured so that regulated custodians hold actual stocks on a 1:1 basis, allowing users to store them in personal wallets and utilize them in DeFi.

The trend of existing independent blockchains moving to Ethereum Layer 2 (L2) has also been captured.

GnosisDAO approved a plan to transition the Gnosis Chain, which has been operated as its own L1, to a ZK-based Ethereum L2 rollup. Whitechain, connected to the Whitebit ecosystem, also announced its transition from its own L1 to an Ethereum L2 utilizing Optimism's OP stack.

This highlights that Ethereum is not just a single blockchain but is expanding its role as a "base layer" that other networks utilize for settlement and security.

Privacy was also a key topic.

Aztec launched Alpha v5, which reduces proof times for private transactions, while several projects such as Privacy Boost, Cloaked, and Privacy Pools introduced services for private remittances and payroll payments.

These movements align with Ethereum's long-term development direction. In its recently released privacy roadmap, Ethereum indicated its intention to develop privacy as a structural characteristic of the network rather than an optional feature. It focuses on "private reads," "private writes," and "private proving" as core pillars.

The combination of AI and blockchain is also gaining momentum.

MetaMask launched the "Agent Wallet," which can be used by AI agents. It allows for the setting of spending limits, allowlists, and risk profiles directly within the wallet.

Cloudflare also announced "Wallets," based on the payment standard x402, which enables AI agents to pay for API and content costs using stablecoins.

Development of Ethereum's own technology continues.

The Ethereum developer community EthPandaOps unveiled the Platåberget testnet in preparation for the next major network upgrade, "Glamsterdam." Glamsterdam aims to expand L1 processing capabilities through ePBS, which separates the roles of block producers and proposers at the protocol level, and block-level access lists (BAL).

According to Ethereum's official roadmap, the Glamsterdam upgrade is currently in development and aims for mainnet application in the fourth quarter of this year. However, the exact application date has not yet been confirmed.

The most striking aspect of this post is the first sentence, "Ethereum is for shipping."

"Shipping" is used in the software industry to mean launching products or features that can be used in practice. Ultimately, by listing 35 cases, Ethereum conveys the message that "we are not just an ecosystem that conducts research, but we are continuously delivering actual products."

This connects to the strategic changes Ethereum has been pursuing recently.

The Ethereum Foundation has restructured its protocol development direction this year to focus on scalability, improving user experience, and strengthening L1. Rather than concentrating on long-term technological research, it emphasizes solving practical issues related to throughput, user experience, and security.

Notably, this list of 35 cases prominently features traditional finance and large tech companies such as BlackRock, Coinbase, Robinhood, Revolut, and Cloudflare.

This can be interpreted as a strategy for Ethereum to position itself as a "public infrastructure for global finance and the digital economy" rather than simply competing with other L1s like Solana over transaction speed or fees.

In fact, in a report released in July aimed at governments and institutions, the Ethereum Foundation defined Ethereum as a "neutral digital public infrastructure" that is not controlled by any specific company.

Including cases of Gnosis Chain and Whitechain moving from independent L1s to Ethereum L2 is also significant. It emphasizes the trend of existing chains integrating into Ethereum's security, liquidity, and development ecosystem, as opposed to new L1s emerging as competitors to Ethereum.

Ultimately, this post can be seen as an effort to strengthen the narrative within the ecosystem that "institutional finance, RWA, stablecoins, privacy, AI, and L2 expansion all have Ethereum as their common denominator."