#稳定币与支付应用 Looking at Ethereum's year-end report card, I have to say—this time it's not hype, things have truly changed.

Remember a few years ago when people were saying "Ethereum is doomed"? Now, traditional financial giants like JPMorgan and BlackRock are running applications on the mainnet, and that's no small feat. The annual trading volume of stablecoins is 46 trillion, with Ethereum accounting for 54%. This data shows one thing: real value has shifted from hype to actual payments and settlements.

But there's a detail worth warning about—the Layer 2 ecosystem has locked in 35.7 billion, with trading volume surpassing the mainnet. It looks healthy, but it also means liquidity is dispersed. Many projects are riding the wave of "ecological prosperity" to squeeze the last wave of retail investors, especially those obscure L2 ecosystem tokens.

What concerns me most is the stablecoin sector. USDT, USDC, which have become infrastructure-level assets, with such large annual trading volumes, indicate that real payment demand is growing, not just hype. But at the same time, the more institutions participate, the easier it becomes to manipulate retail investors. Projects claiming "new stablecoins" or "super-high-yield stablecoins" are basically scams.

DeFi locking in 93.9 billion and Uniswap's annual trading volume breaking 1 trillion are impressive numbers, but I've seen too many "large lock-up whales" actually just be insiders cycling their own tokens. The key is to focus on real users and real transactions, not the numbers game of a few big players.

The conclusion is: Ethereum's position as infrastructure is indeed consolidating, but institutional entry also means the risk has shifted from "project teams squeezing retail" to "institutions squeezing retail investors." Stablecoins and payment applications are genuine needs, but be very cautious when choosing projects and entry points—it's the easiest stage to be dazzled by flashy data.