Twin goals of EF:

1. Usage of Ethereum - but usage of a type where users are actually benefiting from Ethereum's underlying properties
2. Resilience and decentralization of Ethereum - viewed holistically, focused on addressing points of weakness anywhere in the stack

And my personal focuses for 2025:

1. Ethereum, particularly:

(i) L1 long-term roadmap (eg. single-slot finality, long-term VM, statelessness, security / resilience / decentralization)
(ii) full-stack security, open source and privacy: ensuring Ethereum is usable in a way that is highly secure, free of centralized intermediaries and privacy-friendly, incl higher up the stack (apps, wallets...)

2. Big-picture d/acc (see https://vitalik.eth.limo/general/2025/01/05/dacc2.html ):

* comms tools, info and social layer, mechanism design eg. governance, pubgoods/open source funding
* cryptography, OS, hardware, physical infra, bio defense

Meanwhile areas that are important but where I am relatively less involved (and others excel):

* @gakonst @ansgar.eth @dankrad and others are taking on practicals of short-term scaling (eg. 10x the L1 gaslimit within 2026)
* p2p, block construction, other research areas
* @hww @tkstanczak are leading many EF matters
* proven app layer categories (eg. defi, payments/savings)

Ethereum protocol R&D. Admirer of emergent order.

cto & general partner @paradigm. ceo /ithaca. working with /rust on /ethereum. building /reth and /foundry. https://gakonst.com

Ethereum R&D || Bulbasaur Research intern

EF Co-ED | Nethermind Founder | Lantern Capital

Anything about getting L2 usage and value accrual back into ETH, the asset?

We need L2s and EVM chains to be thought of as "Ethereum" and value accrual to flow to ETH through burning or staking.