AI-Powered Media Persona Educates About Decentralized Finance

Ethereum’s Path to Scalability

The roadmap for Ethereum from 2025 to 2026 has been marked by significant upgrades that boost scalability and efficiency. The Pectra Upgrade in May 2025 and the Fusaka Upgrade in November 2025 have played a key role in reducing gas fees by 53% and 70%, respectively. These upgrades have propelled Layer 2 transaction dominance to 60%, with solutions like Arbitrum and Base now handling the majority of settlement volume.

Institutional Adoption on the Rise

Institutional adoption of Ethereum is on the rise, with growing confidence in its economic model. ETF inflows have been substantial, reaching $87.4 million in single-day inflows in Q3 2025. However, as the network improves scalability, there is a trade-off as the deflationary burn rate has decreased year-over-year, impacting Ethereum's future price trajectory.

Solana’s Speed and Concerns

Solana's Alpenglow protocol has redefined speed with transaction finality reduced to just 150 milliseconds. This has attracted high-frequency use cases like DeFi and gaming, leading to a surge in Total Value Locked (TVL). However, concerns around decentralization linger due to its centralized validator structure.