I wanted to share some thoughts on the distinct narratives of Bitcoin and Ethereum, as this distinction is crucial for Ethereum stakeholders. Bitcoin’s narrative advantage is straightforward: it stems from being first. By virtue of being first, Bitcoin is the default, the flag bearer for crypto. It will always hold that distinction, and therefore always derive branding advantages from it. Ethereum also has a claim to being first as the original, fully generalizable smart contract platform. However, that narrative isn’t as compelling as Bitcoin’s simpler "first decentralized currency" branding. Ethereum’s primary narrative, the one that drives most of its value, is that it is the "everything protocol": the world computer. The idea of Ethereum as a single protocol capable of handling all types of economic and digital activity has greater potential for accruing value, but this potential is heavily dependent on Ethereum’s actual adoption levels and economic activity. Currently, Ethereum is experiencing the type of adoption that strongly supports this narrative. Two areas in particular stand out: First, Ethereum has emerged as the default base layer for various independent execution protocols, especially rollup-based networks. The overwhelming majority of these protocols are built on Ethereum, creating a powerful network effect for Ethereum as a settlement and data availability layer. The ceiling for adoption here is practically unlimited, constrained only by data availability, which remains relatively inexpensive. This is not even a hard constraint, as Ethereum Execution Protocols can utilize Ethereum’s security even while relying on external data availability layers. Second, Ethereum is seeing significant promise through the modularization of its native asset, ETH, via the EigenLayer protocol. EigenLayer enables ETH to secure virtually any type of electronic or internet-based protocol. Most promisingly, EigenLayer, with its ETH-secured AVSs (Autonomous Verifiable Services), are now the fastest-growing project in the blockchain space, measured by monthly active developers. However, certain areas remain concerning. Last year, Solana temporarily took the lead from Ethereum in terms of DEX volume. Ethereum has since reclaimed that position, but the fact that centralized chains can achieve very high throughput has allowed them to gain adoption in specific low-value economic activities. The comparative lack of decentralization has indeed handicapped these competitors, making them less trustworthy for high-value use cases. As a result, Ethereum commands the vast majority of total value locked and adoption of real-world assets: applications where security matters most. Still, Ethereum stakeholders should not underestimate the importance of second-order effects arising from low-value economic activities like DEX volume. Complacency in this area could gradually erode Ethereum’s dominance, potentially weakening its overall narrative. Fortunately, Ethereum’s leadership appears aware of this risk. The focus on modular scalability through the rollup-centric roadmap is now combined with renewed efforts to rapidly scale mainnet-executed transactions via the recently announced ZKL1 roadmap. This initiative is extremely promising. The intent of this post is not to urge the leadership: they clearly recognize the importance of total dominance in onchain activity. Rather, it’s a reminder for all Ethereum stakeholders: achieving and maintaining dominance in onchain economic activity is essential to fulfilling Ethereum’s full narrative and market potential.