The price of Ethereum ETH $3 035 24h volatility: 2.0% Market cap: $366.16 B Vol. 24h: $17.18 B saw an uptick in earlier trading, following the unveiling of some core goals for the network.

Vitalik Buterin, the network’s co-founder, acknowledged that Ethereum made significant technical progress last year.

In the same breath, he asserted that it still falls short of its broader mission. He reiterated the vision of Ethereum as a “world computer,” suggesting that effort will be targeted towards this vision moving forward.

The Ethereum co-founder shared a New Year’s message on X, noting the success that the network achieved this past year.

Welcome to 2026! Milady is back.

Ethereum did a lot in 2025: gas limits increased, blob count increased, node software quality improved, zkEVMs blasted through their performance milestones, and with zkEVMs and PeerDAS ethereum made its largest step toward being a fundamentally…

— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) January 1, 2026

He acknowledged the technical progress made in 2025. This includes how Ethereum became faster, more reliable, and better able to handle growth without sacrificing its decentralized design.

So far, the ETH network has processed more activity, reduced bottlenecks, and made it easier for people to run the software that keeps it operating.

Buterin agrees that all of these changes have contributed to pushing Ethereum closer to becoming a new kind of shared computing platform, not just another blockchain.

While all these achievements are commendable, Buterin pointed to a shortfall in Ethereum’s potential.

In his opinion, the blockchain is not designed to pursue the latest crypto narratives but to fulfil its original mission.

“Ethereum needs to do more to meet its own stated goals,” Buterin claimed.

At the same time, he spoke against efforts to “win the next meta.”

This could be through tokenized dollars, political meme coins, or any attempt to artificially boost network usage for economic signaling.

Vitalik Buterin made reference to the vision of Ethereum as a “world computer,” citing that it centers on applications that are designed to function without fraud, censorship, or third-party control, even if their original developers disappear.

Going forward, Ethereum needs to meet two requirements simultaneously if it plans to succeed, per Buterin’s statement.

He says that the network must be usable on a global scale, and it must remain genuinely decentralized.

This will impact the blockchain, the software people use to run nodes, and the applications built on top of it.

Meanwhile, the latest ETH price pump aligns with crypto market analysts’ expectations. As 2025 drew to a close, many of these analysts predicted a 20% upside in the weeks that followed.

Crypto Jelle anticipates the Ethereum price could hit $8,500 as 2026 could be a turning point for altcoin.

Currently, the ETH price is at $3,046.21, with a 2.08% increase over the last 24 hours.

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