ETH: Signal that the global settlement layer is migrating

Vitalik 2026-1-31 07:53 23345人围观 ETH

When settlement begins to gradually break away from the traditional banking system, a question becomes unavoidable: which system will the new settlement ultimately run on? This question is not about the rise and fall of a certain asset, nor about whether

When settlement begins to gradually break away from the traditional banking system, a question becomes unavoidable:

Which system will the new settlement ultimately run on?

This question is not about the rise and fall of a certain asset, nor about whether a certain technology is advanced, but about——

Global value, who will ultimately keep accounts, how to keep accounts, and under what rules will be confirmed.

On this issue, ETH is being repeatedly verified and called repeatedly, gradually showing aSettlement layer signalmeaning.

1. The meaning of ETH is not “asset” but “system””

To understand ETH, you first need to get rid of a common misunderstanding:

Discuss it as a "financial asset".

From a settlement layer perspective, ETH did not appear to replace the U.S. dollar, central banks or sovereign currencies.

What it provides is not a new source of credit;New settlement form。

This pattern has several key characteristics:

Programmable rules: settlement conditions and logic can be expressed systematically
Execution automation: Settlement does not rely on manual review or post-confirmation
Settlement is confirmed: the transaction is recorded in the final ledger as soon as it is completed

This means that what ETH represents is not "who will endorse it", but:

How settlement rules are embedded into the system and executed automatically on an ongoing basis.

From this perspective, it is closer to aSystem ledger, rather than financial assets in the traditional sense.

2. Why is it compared to 1971?

In some macro studies, ETH's role is often compared to a key node after the disintegration of the Bretton Woods system in 1971.

This analogy is not saying "ETH is equal to the US dollar", but emphasizing a lower-level structural change:

Settlement anchors are migrating.

Before 1971, global settlement was ultimately anchored in gold；

After 1971, the settlement anchor migrated to the U.S. financial system itself.

That is not the decline of the dollar, but an escalation of the dollar's power.

Putting this logic to today, you will find a highly similar structure:

The dollar has not lost its valuation status
The sovereign monetary system has not been denied either
but The traditional banking system is no longer the only settlement runway

Therefore, a more accurate judgment is:

This is not about the US dollar falling from the altar, but that the US dollar is changing its settlement runway.

And ETH is one of the system bases that has been repeatedly used and tested on this new track.

3. The “infrastructure logic” of the settlement center”

To understand the long-term significance of ETH, an often-overlooked perspective must be introduced:

Infrastructure logic, not transactional logic.

In the traditional financial system, the reason why Wall Street is important is not how many transactions occur every day, but because:

It is the hub of clearing and settlement
It carries asset pricing, liquidity and risk transfer
It provides global capital with an infrastructure that is “available by default”

In a systematic settlement network, occupying the position of the system base has a similar but more abstract meaning:

be called continuously rather than used once
Effects occur at the rule level, rather than individual transaction gains
Reflected as infrastructure-type returns rather than short-term game results

This is why the discussion value of ETH does not lie in "whether it will rise", but in:

Is it becoming a key node in the settlement layer migration process?

4. The meaning of signals lies in “being used” rather than “being debated””

Looking back at financial history, changes with real structural significance are often not generally understood at the moment, and are even accompanied by controversy.

But there is one criterion that is always valid:

Whether it is continuously and truly embedded in the settlement process.

When a system is repeatedly invoked, repeatedly verified, and begins to assume more and more “default settlement” roles, it has become a signal in itself.

The significance of ETH lies not in what it is, but in what it is being used for.

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