Ethereum Advances Web3 Vision with Fileverse and ZK-EVM

• Ethereum’s PoS, ZK-EVM, PeerDAS and L2s make apps faster, cheaper, and scalable—bringing the original Web3 vision to life.
• Waku and decentralized storage now work in practice, powering real apps like Status and Fileverse without central control.
• Fileverse passes the “walkaway test”: users keep access to documents even if the app disappears—true user ownership.

The decentralized revival is gaining momentum, and Ethereum cofounder Vitalik Buterin is urging developers to build now. He says Ethereum’s original 2014 vision of permissionless apps for finance, social media, ride-sharing, and governance is still achievable today.

He emphasized that core technologies such as Ethereum, Whisper (now Waku), and Swarm are stronger than ever. “All of the prerequisites for the original web3 vision are here, in full force, and are continuing to get stronger over the next few years,” he said.

Ethereum’s shift to proof of stake has made the network more energy-efficient. Moreover, ZK-EVM and PeerDAS are realizing the sharding vision, making Ethereum scalable and cheaper. Layer 2 solutions provide additional speed, enabling decentralized applications to handle complex tasks efficiently. Besides speed and scalability, decentralized messaging and storage systems now match practical usability standards, allowing developers to finally build reliable tools.

Whisper, Ethereum’s data layer, has evolved into Waku, which already powers applications like Railway.xyz and Status.app. Meanwhile, decentralized file storage solutions such as IPFS and Fileverse have improved dramatically.

Fileverse, a Google Docs alternative, demonstrates how Ethereum and Gnosis Chain can be combined for document registration, permissioning, and account management. Consequently, even if Fileverse disappears, users can still retrieve and edit their documents using open-source tools. This “walkaway test” ensures true decentralization.

Buterin contrasted this approach with corporate alternatives, which often demand subscriptions, track user activity, and impose restrictions. He referred to these products as “corposlop,” highlighting devices that fail if politically disfavored or require constant online validation. “Build a hammer that is a tool you buy once and it’s yours, not a corposlop AI dishwasher,” he said, stressing the importance of user sovereignty.

As usability and network efficiency increase, developers can now build fully decentralized applications that compete with web2 alternatives. In addition, the growing ecosystem on Ethereum allows for applications related to social media, economics, and self-management without the help of central management.

It is time, according to him, for the community to stop waiting and proactively “buidl decentralized.” Participation matters for shaping the future of the decentralized web, which is by no means a mere theory anymore.