At the beginning of 2026, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has once again painted a new blueprint for the entire ecosystem. In his latest article on January 12th, he proposed a bold idea: Ethereum should achieve a new milestone within the next two years — becoming a blockchain that can operate stably and autonomously even if the developer community disappears. He calls this goal "Ossification," which essentially means the protocol enters a permanently stable and maintainable phase.

You might ask, does this mean freezing Ethereum? Not exactly. Vitalik explained clearly — Ossification targets the core protocol layer (Layer 1), aiming to make it sufficiently mature and stable so that even if all developers around the world cease participation, Ethereum can continue to operate normally, supporting financial applications, governance protocols, and other trustless services.

He used a vivid analogy: imagine buying a hammer; you can use it without needing the manufacturer to maintain it daily. This is true infrastructure — like TCP/IP or Unix systems, tested over time, enduring and evolving, rather than something that requires constant upgrades and tinkering.

More interestingly, Vitalik proposed a standard called the "walkaway test." Simply put: if all developers and core participants choose to leave, can the protocol still operate safely and stably? If yes, then it truly is decentralized. Conversely, if the protocol’s survival still depends on continuous upgrades and community coordination, then it is essentially a "service" that needs human care, not an independent infrastructure.

This vision actually reflects the Ethereum team’s thoughts on ecosystem maturity. Innovation will not stop; on the contrary, the innovation space for Layer 2 and application layers will expand even more. But the core layer needs to reach a certain point — sufficiently stable and reliable to support everything built upon it. Only then can Ethereum truly become the cornerstone of the Web3 world.