Recently, I saw a very interesting article posted by Vitalik Buterin, whose core point is: don’t be fooled by the noise of meme coins. What Ethereum truly needs is a stable, low-risk DeFi ecosystem to support its development.

He used Google as an analogy, and it was quite spot-on. Google’s advertising business accounts for over 75% of total revenue, and it’s this stable “money-printing machine” that allows them to invest in those low-profit but meaningful products for the world. Vitalik believes that, for Ethereum, low-risk DeFi should serve as this kind of economic engine — rather than experimental or speculative projects.

Interestingly, Vitalik openly admits that he was quite skeptical of DeFi in the past. The high-risk yield farming and speculative trading in earlier years, along with the Gas war disaster during the Otherdeed launch in 2022, all made him worry that DeFi might struggle to form sustainable applications. But now, the situation has changed — hacking attacks and asset losses are gradually being pushed to the edges of the ecosystem, regulatory frameworks are maturing, and tail-end risks are now lower than those in traditional finance.

What’s most impressive is that Vitalik subtly criticizes the chaos of meme coins. He doesn’t directly call them out, but his meaning is very clear: if the biggest application of a blockchain ecosystem is political meme coins, you simply can’t say “this ecosystem is exciting.” The value of the ecosystem should be built on applications that “do not violate morals” and “are not embarrassing,” rather than on speculative assets.

Looking ahead, Vitalik mentions that low-risk DeFi can evolve into more possibilities — such as credit-based non-collateralized loans, integrated prediction markets, or even stablecoins (pegged to inflation rather than the dollar). His final summary is quite powerful: low-risk DeFi is already supporting Ethereum’s economy and is making the world better. This is something the entire ecosystem should be proud of.

In essence, Vitalik’s message is a reminder to the community: don’t be swayed by short-term speculative hype. What can ensure Ethereum’s long-term prosperity are those stable, sustainable applications that have real-world impact. Meme coins are fine, but they shouldn’t become the core of the ecosystem.