Crypto Crystal Ball 2025: Could Ethereum Upgrades Finally Lead to Mass Adoption?

As we enter 2025, there will be many questions surrounding crypto, not just about pricing and regulation. The underlying technology that powers the industry’s most popular tools is also poised to change in the new year, and those shifts could have big implications for users.

For our annual Crypto Crystal Ball series, we’re getting Consider the narratives that will shape the coming year and how they might affect you.

After considering how much political capital Donald Trump is willing to spend on the crypto industry’s priorities, here’s how to update the tech ahead. Ethereum crypto may eventually make its way into the mainstream at the consumer level.

For years, the crypto industry has been praying for mass adoption. However, time and time again, the chain’s products and experiences failed to attract as many users as its Web2 competitors.

A major update for Ethereum scheduled for February could change that — making on-chain apps much easier to use for everyday consumers.

This was announced by David Silverman, Senior Vice President of Strategic Business Initiatives at Polygon, an Ethereum-based project. Deciphering During the crypto bull market of 2021, millions of people were interested in exploring on-chain applications, but the technology was not ready. Come the coming bull cycle in 2025 (knock on wood), Silverman says crypto products will eventually be inexhaustible.

“This is the next cycle, if we see a massive flow of interest, then we can show a real example of what we think the future of Web3 will be,” Silverman said, “as opposed to just glimmers of hope.”

Why? Developers say Ethereum is coming Pectra update eliminates the bottlenecks that have previously made on-chain applications a headache. Goodbye dedicated wallets for managing gas bills and smart contracts; hi, signing transactions with FaceID — and browsing some on-chain apps without signing any transactions.

One of the key innovations in Pectra is that it provides smart wallet functionality to the types of mainstream wallets produced by major companies such as Coinbase and MetaMask. In February, users of those wallets will be able to pay gas fees on Ethereum and all L2s with any crypto, including stablecoins. They can also sign transactions with Apple’s universal tools like FaceID and TouchID.

These hassle-free signature mechanisms can now enable “much more sophisticated on-chain interactions with one click,” said Mark Tyneway, co-founder of Ethereum layer-2 network Optimism. Deciphering.

Take session keys for example. Previously impossible session keys will soon allow ordinary crypto users to run a site or app for hours and perform dozens of secure interactions on-chain — all without the user knowing what’s going on in the backend.

“You can chain the entire Instagram experience,” Tyneway said Deciphering. “This will unleash a huge wave of innovation.”

According to Polygon’s Silverman, Pectra will soon enable many crypto app developers to create seamless experiences where gas payments are sponsored and transaction signatures are abstracted — leaving products that look and feel like leading Web2 apps, but offer Web3-specific benefits.

“Crypto UX is going to rise,” Silverman said. “It’s an unlock.”