How Ethereum's ten-year development of the "trust protocol" will become the cornerstone of next-generation digital finance?

As Ethereum approaches its tenth anniversary, Consensys has released a report exploring how it enhances global financial efficiency as "trust software." Compiled, edited, and written by BlockBeats. (Background: SharpLink Gaming bought 10,000 ETH from the Ethereum Foundation OTC, and SBET's stock price surged to $20) (Additional context: $8 trillion asset management giant Charles Schwab forecasts Bitcoin and Ethereum "spot trading" to open within a year) Every financial transaction contains an element of trust. Ethereum's digital trust allows massive assets, capital, and financial transactions to be digitized, greatly enhancing the efficiency of the global financial system, benefiting everyone from institutions to businesses to consumers. On July 30, Ethereum will celebrate its tenth anniversary. On this occasion, Consensys released the report "Industrialization of Trust," which outlines the investment case for Ethereum and the emerging technology category of "trust software." "Trust software" is infrastructure that industrializes the production of trust, allowing trust to be encoded in the form of digital goods. Consensys's research and analysis indicate that Ethereum has become the dominant blockchain platform, supporting over 50% of non-Bitcoin digital assets, including 60% of stablecoins, 60% of decentralized finance capital, and 80% of tokenized "real-world assets" such as stocks, money market funds, and bonds. Ethereum's breakthrough: digital trust and trust software Trust software is an infrastructure that can upgrade the simulated concepts of trust, such as notes and ledgers verified by human agents and auditors, guaranteed by human insurance companies and regulatory bodies, to an equivalent digital trust concept generated by algorithms. For centuries, human civilization has relied on various forms of trust infrastructure, from tribal kinship to large institutions such as governments, insurance companies, auditing agencies, and legal systems. While these systems have facilitated cooperation and economic growth, they come at a very high cost. It is estimated that humanity spends over $9 trillion annually on trust-related matters, including insurance ($8 trillion), legal systems (over $1 trillion), and auditing ($290 billion). This colossal expenditure highlights a fundamental problem: the current trust models cannot effectively scale in the digital age. They are simulated—slower, more expensive, and more fragmented than the always-online, highly automated, and rapidly evolving digital economy that relies on them. Trust software imbues ordinary data with the essential qualities of trust: validity and finality. Validity ensures the consistency and correctness of data, with mathematical certainty. Finality guarantees the permanence of data, making it impossible to alter without incurring significant costs. Ethereum allows these properties to be added to data in a scalable way, without the need for continuous human intervention, thereby achieving trust at near-zero marginal cost. In this way, with its powerful public network and groundbreaking economic algorithms capable of generating digital trust, Ethereum can significantly enhance the speed, cost, security, and scale of financial transaction verification simultaneously. Investment Case For years, investors have considered ETH to be the "second-largest cryptocurrency." This is true, but not very meaningful. Today, they understand that ETH represents explosive growth in stablecoins and other tokenized assets, which they see discussed daily in business channels, and they may have already used them in their everyday lives. They realize that ETH underpins the prediction markets they see online, and ETH also supports the new type of tokenized stocks that Robinhood is launching. With the introduction of landmark legislative proposals such as the GENIUS Act and the CLARITY Act, this wave of innovation is only going to intensify. Ethereum's role as a platform driving the future global economy is increasingly gaining attention. Ethereum was born for this moment from the beginning. In terms of security, assurance, and resilience, Ethereum is top-notch. The tenth anniversary of the Genesis Block is a celebration of its unparalleled achievements over the past decade in the technology of both digital and traditional assets. · Economic Security: With over $100 billion in staked capital and more than 1 million validators, Ethereum has built a strong defense capable of effectively repelling attacks. · Network Effects: Ethereum boasts the deepest liquidity, the most developers (twice as many as the next closest blockchain), and the richest application ecosystem. The EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine) standard dominates smart contract development, with all major stablecoins using Ethereum as their primary platform. · Verified Adaptability and Continuous Upgrades: Through complex upgrades such as the Merge (transition to proof of stake, reducing energy consumption by 99.95%) and Dencun (reducing aggregation costs by 90%), Ethereum has demonstrated resilience and continuous improvement in its first decade, with no downtime. · Global Neutrality and Decentralization: Unlike other power-centralized blockchains, Ethereum is not controlled by a single company or entity. Its over 1 million validator nodes are distributed across more than 80 countries/regions, with over 67% of nodes operating outside the U.S., demonstrating its antifragility and reliable neutrality. · Institutional Validation and Adoption: Global institutions like BlackRock, JPMorgan, Visa, and Franklin Templeton have begun leveraging Ethereum for tokenized assets, payments, and private equity investments, validating its security model and reliability. The total amount of tokenized real-world assets on Ethereum has exceeded $13 billion, with a monthly growth rate of up to 6.75%. Despite Ethereum's technology maturing and the digital asset infrastructure market continually integrating, its economic potential remains in its early stages. The total market capitalization of cryptocurrencies accounts for only 0.3% of global wealth, and tokenized securities represent only a small portion of the capital market. However, increasingly clear regulations, especially in the U.S., are accelerating the adoption of cryptocurrencies, shifting from resistance to embracing digital assets. The convergence of artificial intelligence and blockchain has led to an unprecedented demand for trustless infrastructure: as AI agents begin trading at machine speed, they will require machine trust. Ethereum is the only infrastructure prepared for an economic environment that requires algorithmic mutual trust. For institutions, holding Ether (ETH) means owning a piece of the digital economic infrastructure at a price far below its eventual value. ETH can be used to pay for network transactions and serve as a store of value. Unlike Bitcoin, ETH can also generate cash flow through staking. Furthermore, similar to stocks, as the Ethereum platform becomes more popular, the value of ETH will grow accordingly. It uniquely combines the properties of commodities, currencies, and capital assets into a highly attractive asset. As the Trustware report points out, ETH, as economic bandwidth, secures the anticipated issuance and trading of assets on the platform in the coming years, driving strong growth in its value. The Trust Machine has been built The Trust Machine has been built. It operates continuously, self-improving and creating more value, attracting more users. The question is not whether to trust Ethereum, but whether to trust the digitization of trust. If you do, then the reasons for investing in a piece of the foundational layer of the future global economy are self-evident. Related Reports Ethereum version of MicroStrategy: SharpLink Gaming plans to raise $425 million to buy ETH, stock price skyrocketed 800% in one day.