From world computer to world ledger, is Ethereum going to be an on-chain Central Bank?

On June 20, Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin retweeted a post by ConsenSys founder Joseph Lubin, stating that "Ethereum Layer 1 is the world ledger."

This is also a rare statement from Vitalik regarding the recent discussions on the macro narrative of Ethereum.

As we all know, in the world of blockchain, each public chain basically has a design positioning, which often lays the foundation for its technical architecture and ecological style.

For example, Ethereum, since its inception, has had the ultimate vision of building a "world computer": an open platform that can run any smart contract and support various Web3 application logic. Vitalik has also clearly pointed out that Ethereum is not just a payment network, but a general-purpose decentralized computing layer.

So now, from "world computer" to "world ledger", what kind of narrative evolution has taken place?

1. Ethereum: The Original Intent of the World's Computer

In fact, it's not just Ethereum; even Bitcoin, which initially clearly proposed the vision of "Electronic Cash," has seen its payment positioning gradually fade as its scale grows and the market evolves, shifting towards a core of value storage known as "digital gold."

Objectively speaking, this transformation itself is a pragmatic choice. After all, BTC, as a representative of cryptocurrency breaking out of its niche, has already been substantially included in the balance sheets of mainstream financial institutions, gradually becoming one of the core assets in TradFi allocations.

Looking back at the development path of Ethereum, we find that although the main line has not undergone a dramatic change in grand narratives, it has long been in a state of continuous dynamic evolution:

Since the market cycle evolution that began in 2016, Ethereum has been the leader among all smart contract platforms, giving rise to a large number of on-chain use cases throughout the entire sector. From ERC20 to DeFi, and then to NFTs and blockchain games, each round of hotspots has confirmed the charm of "on-chain computing power."

It can be said that smart contracts have always been at its core, which is why Vitalik has repeatedly emphasized that Ethereum is a decentralized application platform aimed at supporting various Web3 native logics, not just asset transfers. However, at the same time, we have also seen contradictions in reality.

The most criticized issues are the previously high Gas fees and low TPS performance problems, which have limited the large-scale implementation of truly complex computational logic. It is against this backdrop that Rollup technology has gradually come to the fore since 2020. After 5 years of development, Ethereum has also gradually established a "L1+L2" layered structure.

Under this architecture, especially over the past two years, there have been increasing signs that Ethereum is revealing itself as a trustworthy, stable, sovereign-level "world ledger."

2. Narrative reconstruction under the division of L1+L2

If summarized in one sentence, "the Ethereum mainnet is responsible for security and settlement, while L2 handles high-frequency interactions" would be quite accurate.

In simple terms, the Ethereum ecosystem has now formed a clear division of labor, where the mainnet is responsible for providing security and infrastructure for final settlement, while L2s (such as Base, Arbitrum, Optimism, etc.) carry most of the high-frequency trading and user operations.

This not only improves scalability but also further strengthens the value capture logic of ETH, naturally positioning the Ethereum mainnet as a "global decentralized ledger". The more L2s there are, the more successful they become, and the more prosperous the ecosystem, the higher the value of the Ethereum mainnet as a unified ledger.

After all, all L2 networks rely on it as the "central bank" level settlement layer.

As Web3 researcher Haotian mentioned, EIP-1559 is undoubtedly a key turning point in the Ethereum narrative. It not only introduced the Base Fee and burning mechanism but also fundamentally reshaped the way Ethereum captures value, shifting reliance from the massive Gas income generated by transactions on the mainnet to a continuous "taxation" model reliant on L2.

In other words, in the past, users were direct customers of the mainnet, but now they have become agents operating L2s, responsible for providing services to users, collecting fees, and ultimately "paying" the costs to the mainnet in exchange for settlement rights. This mechanism design is very similar to the historical "tax farmer system":

The mainnet becomes the ultimate trusted ledger for transaction clearing and settlement, similar to a central bank;

L2 acts like a commercial bank, responsible for high-frequency services aimed at users;

And every L2 transaction that returns to the mainnet for verification will burn ETH, paying for the security of the ledger.

It can be said that Ethereum has not abandoned the vision of being a "world computer"; rather, the division of labor and development path of L1 + L2 is guiding it to first become a "world ledger."

03, the realism of the "world ledger" landing

Another interesting observation is that each round of ETH's value explosion actually stems from the mainnet being "put to use" in its role as a ledger.

Just like the ERC20 wave in 2017 was a clearing and settlement layer for issuing tokens, the DeFi Summer in 2020 was a funding settlement platform under smart contract combinations. Recently, if this wave is re-ignited due to the tokenization of US stocks, RWA, and other financial assets on-chain, Ethereum will still be that trusted ledger.

Because for TradFi, computing power is certainly important, but what truly determines whether to migrate on-chain is always the "trust, finality, and security" of the ledger—this is the core focus of compliant assets.

This is also why platforms like Robinhood are choosing to launch US stock token trading services based on L2 solutions such as Arbitrum. This decision is not only a recognition of the performance of Rollup architecture, but more importantly, these trades will ultimately settle back on the Ethereum mainnet.

This also indicates that the performance, security, and compliance capabilities of existing L2 solutions are sufficient to meet the trading needs of core assets in traditional finance. In a sense, this wave of "US stock on-chain" has actually strengthened Ethereum's positioning as a global financial settlement infrastructure, further validating the feasibility and real demand for its role as a "world ledger."

This is the realistic evolution path of Ethereum from a "world computer" to a "world ledger"—it no longer merely promises a future vision of on-chain applications, but is increasingly chosen by mainstream assets in the real world as the settlement endpoint.

From this perspective, this type of trend not only confirms the value of Ethereum L1, but also profoundly reconstructs the value capture logic of L2, promoting the entire Ethereum ecosystem to truly connect between technology and financial infrastructure.

In short, the narratives that can truly drive this chain towards hundreds of millions of users are not only about what Ethereum can do, but rather about:

What the real world is willing to do with Ethereum.