The EDCON 2019 Ethereum panel brought together core developers for a Q&A in Sydney last week. Hsiao-Wei Wang, Vitalik Buterin, Danny Ryan, Virgil Griffith, and others were present to discuss the future of Ethereum.

It’s always insightful to hear directly from core developers where Ethereum (ETH) is headed. At EDCON 2019, the team shared its thoughts on the progress being made and what we can expect in the coming years.

The panel touched on topics ranging from the feasibility of proof-of-stake protocols, dApp development, mining, and other obstacles moving forward for leading smart contract cryptocurrencies.

1. Proof-of-stake was only recently theoretically possible.

We’ve come a long way since a theoretical proof-of-stake system was proposed in 2011. Buterin said that it was only in 2015, upon publishing his theoretical paper supporting the idea, that proof-of-stake finally become feasible. Many of the details mentioned then have since been slowly rolled out, but it underscores how far the Ethereum dev team has come in implementing an idea once thought impossible.

2. We are at a tipping point for decentralized applications.

Ethereum’s many hackathons have really demonstrated the power of decentralized applications. Although 2018 was not a great year for dApps, as more of them are now being built than ever before and users will be surprised by their rise in the coming years.

3. The oracle problem is far from unsolvable.

Oracles are required to feed data into smart contracts and make them intelligible. Although a difficult undertaking, Buterin mentioned Oraclize as offering a potential framework for implementation. Above all else, they must be secure so that the input data is valid.

4. Legally-binding smart contracts on Ethereum still have a long ways to go.

Smart contracts and legality still remain in a grey area. Although immutable, they’re still not legally recognized as such. Government regulators still have to catch up to the developments made by Ethereum.

5. TRON and Ethereum are definitely not partnering.

Although TRON founder Justin Sun seemed to allude to a potential partnership between TRON and Ethereum, the panel downplayed such rumors.

“If Justin Sun was a less-compromised asset, I would love to have him as a chief marketing officer for Ethereum,” joked Griffith.

6. The community is only getting more unified.

Governance so far, according to Buterin, has been a success other than for a set of small controversial issues. Although it’s possible that issues will arise in the future that would drive a wedge in the current consensus, there really no threat of that happening anytime soon.

7. Ethereum’s marketing will soon experience a drastic improvement.

Ryan admitted that there may be room for improvement in Ethereum’s marketing. “We can certainly do better in communication, he said.” However, he also noted that there are plenty of supporters online who already do the heavy communicative work for them, although internal efforts to better market Ethereum are actively being considered.

8. Because the Ethereum Foundation has no real revenue stream, it is moving quickly.

The time the Ethereum Foundation has to work with is limited. Although there is no definite timeframe on when the clock will run out, it’s ticking. “Eventually, when the money runs out, the party will be over and we’ll get real jobs,” Buterin joked.

Until then, Ethereum’s core devs will keep working hard until the money pool runs dry. Luckily, we don’t have to worry about the Ethereum Foundation running out of capital anytime soon.

What are your thoughts on the Q&A and the Ethereum project? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.