Honestly, Ethereum in 2025 has left everyone in the crypto space baffled. The technological iterations are ridiculously fast, the ecosystem is expanding rapidly, but the price just won't cooperate—after dropping from the high of $4,900, supported by spot ETFs and $2 billion from leading institutions entering the market, it still delivered a disappointing performance to holders by the end of the year.

Rather than calling this a normal correction, it's more like a major upheaval in Ethereum's underlying logic. Whether it can be reborn from the ashes or completely stall is anyone's guess. From my eight years in the industry, today I’ll be straightforward: who is really dragging down Ethereum's growth? Will it become the Microsoft of blockchain, or will it follow Nokia's path to obsolescence?

**The Myth of Deflation Has Been Destroyed by Its Own Hand**

In the early days, ETH holders were full of confidence—holding what they called "ultrasound money," which became scarcer the more it was used, and its value was expected to keep rising. After the Dencun and Fusaka upgrades, this once formidable moat was completely dismantled.

To be fair, the technical upgrades are indeed impressive. Layer 2 transaction fees have been cut by 90%, making what used to be painful gas costs for transfers a non-issue. Ethereum has truly shifted from being "out of reach" to "a useful infrastructure." The problem lies precisely here—it's so easy to use that it has undermined its own tokenomics model.

The core issue is this: Ethereum, in its effort to promote the L2 ecosystem and these "progeny" projects,