Topic：Capturing Opportunities and Developments of the ETH Ecosystem from ETH Denver

Organizer：Cointime & New Huo Tech

Time: UTC+8, March 13, Monday 3:00-4:30PM

Host： Angela Tong, Co-founder of Fairyproof & Cointime

Speaker：

Victor Ji, Cofounder of Manta Network

Jack Zhou, Venture Partner of Arkstream Capital

Steven Li, FutureMoney Group Co-Founder

Louise Liang, Senior Researcher of New Huo Tech

1.Could you share your thoughts on attending ETH Denver? What are some memorable people, events, or projects?

Victor Ji：Compared to previous years, this ETH Denver focused more on underlying technology and forward-looking discussions, with a primary focus on the core content of Ethereum. As one of the hottest areas this year, ZK inevitably sparked extensive discussions, exploring various applications and scenarios of ZK, including hardware, acceleration, scalability, and more. The attention and interest in ZK among attendees were increasing. Furthermore, ETH Denver placed more emphasis on project teams, with participants sharing their research results and receiving various positive feedback, helping to discover more directions for development.

Jack Zhou：ETH Denver is an excellent platform for leaders and developers across various industries to engage in deep discussions, with the core focus of the conference on the underlying infrastructure of ETH. With tens of thousands of attendees, including thousands of developers and globally recognized projects, the conference serves as a significant hub for the ETH community. Furthermore, the developer culture of this conference creates an authentic and conducive environment for direct and convenient communication among all parties.

Steven Li：The number of attendees at ETH Denver was significant, including many partners from Asia. Meeting in person further brought us closer together. The participants at ETH Denver were highly skilled in their respective industries and came with a shared goal of exchanging ideas and fostering collaboration. As a result, negotiations went smoothly. Through ETH Denver, we noticed an increasing number of proposals from the Chinese community in ETH. They have shifted their focus from simple project development towards ecosystem building. One exciting development was the successful adoption of the EIP4804 protocol (now known as ERC4804) proposed by Dr. Qi Zhou, the founder of EthStorge.

Louise Liang：Public Goods has received increasing attention in the ETH community over the past two years, which is a positive development as there are many still-undefined business models, but the related products and tools are highly practical for both the developer community and users. Through ETH Denver, we have seen the launch of more such projects, which will help everyone to create more products by standing on the shoulders of previous work.

2. ZK was one of the most discussed topics at the ETH Denver and is currently a mainstream narrative in the market. Please share your views on ZK infrastructure and applications. Are there any promising segmentation scenarios or projects?

Victor Ji：There are two main applications for ZK: scalability and privacy. Scalability can make ETH faster, while privacy makes data invisible on the chain while being decentralized, and these are two completely different paths. At the ETH Denver, we also see many large companies such as Samsung entering the ZK hardware project. The performance improvement brought by ZK is obvious, and I believe that the ZK track will have many breakthroughs this year, and chain-based games may become the next opportunity in the next cycle.

Steven Li：The ZK circuit, whether scalability or privacy, has the potential to accommodate a significant amount of funds. Driven by capital, it can facilitate the accumulation of technology and unlock more possibilities, ultimately propelling the entire industry forward.

Jack Zhou：I am optimistic about the ZK-KYC. The US SEC's punishment of Kraken's staking in2022 has brought a lot of reflection to the entire crypto industry. For a long time, the balance between user privacy and user authentication has been a challenge in the KYC field. Therefore, the demand prospect for ZK-KYC is very promising.

Louise Liang：ZK is applicable to various areas, such as identity verification, KYC, and on-chain information transmission. I am more interested in the outbreak of various ZK application projects. As user participation increases, it can drive the construction of underlying infrastructure.

3. Against the backdrop of the ETH’s Shanghai Upgrade, staking and liquidity mining have also become hot topics. Is there a significant opportunity in the direction of staking? The US SEC's punishment of Kraken's staking has also sparked discussions from all sides. Please share your thoughts on this.

Louise Liang：The ETH’s Shanghai Upgrade is a highly anticipated time for many, and its impact is gradually becoming apparent. During this period, the staking rate for ETH has risen from 13% to 15%. It is expected that with the completion of the Shanghai upgrade, the staking rate for ETH could reach 30%. Assuming the coin price remains stable, the market's staking scale will also double, making staking the cornerstone of the entire chain's revenue. New Huo Staking will begin supporting ETH on the 24th of this month, providing users with secure and robust SaaS technology services. Additionally, early adopters will benefit from more user-friendly service fees.I believe that the market needs to be more standardized to better protect user assets. However, regulation also needs to be carried out in accordance with the law. I hope that the regulatory framework in the future can be more transparent, providing more guidance for compliance businesses. New Huo Tech will always adhere to the principle of compliance first.

Jack Zhou：Staking is a resource-intensive business, and the completion of ETH’s Shanghai Upgrade is a significant boost for platforms and projects with sufficient resources. The US SEC's punishment is a lazy regulatory approach, as it made a decision without providing accurate guidance.

Victor Ji：The discussion surrounding the US SEC's punishment ultimately centers on whether staking should be classified as a security. It is debatable to simply categorize Ethereum staking as a security industry. Moving forward, there will likely be more definitive regulatory guidelines introduced, but there are also many variables to consider in this process.

Steven Li：The ETH’s Shanghai Upgrade and the US SEC's punishment are expected to increase the threshold for staking in the future and further promote their standardization.

4. ETH Denver has brought many new ideas and collisions, apart from ZK and staking, which other areas or narratives do you think are promising? What are the reasons?

Steven Li：One of the areas we are currently focusing on is the Token Incentivized Physical Infrastructure Network (TIPIN), with HNT (helium) being a representative project. In recent years, the subdivision application areas include distributed WiFi, distributed 5G, and sensors on IoT vehicles that record driving information and generate revenue by selling it to corresponding companies. Such a channel with a certain mining nature can bring a large number of new users to the blockchain industry, and the threshold for screening new users is relatively low, making it easy for users to understand and use.

Jack Zhou：I have high expectations for two directions. One is MPC wallets, which will open the door for potential Web2 users to enter Web3 in the next bull market and is an absolute major trend for the new cycle. The other is AI, with the main direction being on-chain data + AI + smart money. Existing projects can already implement complex contract operations such as flash loans through natural language.

Louise Liang：Firstly, the trend from Web2 to Web3 requires easy-to-use wallets and low-threshold applications to truly attract and retain users. The second major theme is asset security. With a large amount of funds entering the industry, professional custody solutions are needed. The scale of the custody track will certainly steadily grow. Ensuring asset security can not only solve internal problems but also enhance external confidence in the industry. New Huo Tech will also launch its own MPC custody product, including underlying MPC wallets, a clearing network connecting exchanges, and a plugin and open platform system for Web3. We welcome everyone to continue to pay attention.

5. Please share your views on the industry's development, what changes have occurred in the external and internal environment, and how to prepare for the next bull market?

Jack Zhou：At ETH Denver, Chinese projects accounted for about 20% of the total, far exceeding India. The backgrounds of the founders have greatly improved compared to previous years, and they can now compete on an equal footing with Western projects in terms of application. The external challenge is how to gain hundreds of millions of users in the next bull market. The development path of Web3 can refer to the early development process of the Internet. Compared with underlying infrastructure, the discourse power of applications gradually increases. Whoever can obtain the traffic entrance can control the discourse power of Web3. For application developers, it is now a dawn moment to seize the commanding heights.

Victor Ji：I am very much looking forward to the development of the entire industry this year. Both businesses and the industry will face various uncertainties from external factors. What attracts me most about entrepreneurship is the continuous learning and problem-solving.

Steven Li：The changes in the Web3 industry are happening rapidly, and FutureMoney Group has already gone through its third cycle. It's crucial to establish a team with a shared vision and stick to it. While the external market is full of uncertainties, what we can do now is to do our best in the present and maintain our original intentions.

Louise Liang：During this cycle, the technical atmosphere in the industry has become more prominent, and the industry has become more long-term oriented. There are also more ambitious and idealistic individuals joining, infusing the industry with an exploratory spirit. The connection between the industry and traditional Web2 companies and financial institutions has also become closer, and crypto has had a greater impact on a wider audience, which is a good trend. New Huo Tech insists on doing the right things and doing things for the long term, hoping to use past experiences to do more valuable things in such a better era.