Vitalik confirms attendance! ETHShanghai ignites Ethereum scaling revolution in October.

The 4th ETHShanghai conference will be grandly held in Shanghai from October 18 to 22, 2025. Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, Hsiao-Wei Wang, newly appointed co-executive director of the Ethereum Foundation, Tomasz Stańczak, and the EigenLayer team are among the heavyweight guests who have confirmed their attendance.

Vitalik and other industry leaders gather at the ETHShanghai main summit

The main summit on October 22 will be the ultimate stage for technical consensus and the collision of ideas, with plans to invite over 40 industry leaders to delve into core topics such as Ethereum expansion, modular ecosystems, developer growth, and long-term security through keynote speeches and roundtable discussions. Among them, the attendance of several heavyweight guests is particularly noteworthy, as their insights will help guide the future development of Ethereum.

As a co-founder and spiritual leader of Ethereum, Vitalik's every public statement profoundly influences the trajectory of the industry. His attendance is undoubtedly the biggest highlight of this ETHShanghai event, and the global community is eager for him to bring the latest cutting-edge thoughts on key topics such as Ethereum's future roadmap, the integration of AI and blockchain, and DeFi. Against the backdrop of the global AI wave reshaping the world, Ethereum is actively positioning itself as a neutral and trusted underlying layer of the emerging smart economy. Vitalik's speech at ETHShanghai will provide the most authoritative interpretation of this strategic direction.

Also in the spotlight is Hsiao-Wei Wang, the new co-executive director of the Ethereum Foundation, who has a strong technical background. Before joining the foundation's leadership, she worked as a core researcher for seven years, making critical contributions to the development of Ethereum sharding and the Beacon Chain. She is not only proficient in the underlying protocols but also an outstanding community builder, having successfully organized multiple high-quality technical exchange events in Taiwan, bringing valuable perspectives that connect research with the community to the foundation.

Alongside Hsiao-Wei Wang, the other co-executive director leading the foundation is Tomasz Stańczak, who will also attend the ETHShanghai event. As the founder of Nethermind, an Ethereum execution layer client, he has a background as a financial market engineer and was involved early on in the development of FlashBots and StarkNet. Tomasz is known for his exceptional execution skills and organizational building abilities, transforming Nethermind from an experimental project into a world-class blockchain development organization. His arrival aims to inject stronger execution capabilities and product-oriented thinking into the Ethereum Foundation, accelerating the development of the ecosystem.

This is the first time that the dual executive directors of the Ethereum Foundation have publicly appeared in Asia, demonstrating Ethereum's high regard for the Asia-Pacific market. ETHShanghai, as the most influential Ethereum developer community event in the Asia-Pacific region, has become an excellent stage for the Foundation's new leadership to showcase its strategic vision.

72-Hour Hackathon: Three Major Tracks Ignite a Wave of Innovation

As the technical core and innovation engine of the conference, the 72-hour offline hackathon from October 18 to 21 will serve as a stage to ignite the next wave of innovation in Ethereum for the next decade. The event will select about 100 top developers from over 500 global applications, incubating 30 to 40 cutting-edge projects on-site. Winning projects will share a total prize pool of up to $15,000, and winners in each track will have the opportunity to showcase their results on the main summit stage to top investment institutions.

ETHShanghai Hackathon Three Main Tracks:

AI × ETH Track: Following the establishment of the dAI team by the Ethereum Foundation, this track explores the deep integration of AI and Ethereum, encouraging innovation in areas such as smart contract automation, on-chain governance agents, and AI-driven risk control. This track resonates with the current hottest technological trends, combining the decentralized trust of blockchain with the intelligent decision-making of AI to create entirely new application scenarios.

DeFi × Infra Track: In the context of the evolution of RWA and modular technology, promote the reconstruction of financial infrastructure to build a safer, smarter, and more scalable financial network. This track focuses on the next generation of DeFi infrastructure, including more efficient lending protocols, cross-chain liquidity solutions, and risk management tools.

Public Goods × Open Source Development Track: Strengthening the ecological foundation, supporting the development of underlying infrastructure and collaborative tools, and promoting the continuous development of open finance and open society. This track embodies Ethereum's long-term commitment to the public good, encouraging developers to build open source tools and infrastructure that benefit the entire ecosystem.

Participants are required to submit a GitHub repository, a demonstration video, and proof of originality. The registration deadline is October 1. The ETHShanghai hackathon not only offers monetary incentives but more importantly provides developers with the opportunity to communicate directly with Vitalik, the Ethereum Foundation core team, and top investment institutions. Many successful Ethereum projects started from hackathons, and ETHShanghai has become the most important Ethereum innovation incubation platform in the Asia-Pacific region.

Youth Sailing Program: Lower the Participation Threshold for Young Developers in Asia

Before the main event of ETHShanghai, the “Youth Voyage Program” has been launched to discover and sponsor at least 30 outstanding young developers from Asia. The program has a budget of over 6,000 USDT, providing participants with a transportation subsidy of up to 200 USDT to lower the threshold for engaging deeply with the Ethereum core ecosystem in Shanghai.

The registration deadline is October 3rd, and the list will be announced on October 10th. Successful candidates will participate in the on-site exchange event in Shanghai on October 19th and must also join the ETHShanghai hackathon. This design ensures that the Youth Sailing Program is not only a financial subsidy but also a bridge that deeply integrates young developers into the core activities of ETHShanghai.

The Youth Voyage Program reflects the Ethereum community's emphasis on the younger generation of developers. Many outstanding Asian developers face challenges in participating in international-level technical events due to funding or information constraints. ETHShanghai aims to eliminate these barriers through this program, providing young developers in Asia the opportunity to engage face-to-face with global technology leaders.

Sponsor Lineup: Comprehensive Support for the Ecosystem

The successful hosting of ETHShanghai 2025 is inseparable from the strong support of numerous industry partners. New sponsors include: Nora (the first crypto-native AI program agent), Injective (a high-performance Layer-1 blockchain tailored for financial applications), and Licredity (an ultra-high capital efficiency lending market directly deployed within Uniswap V4).

The previous lineup of sponsors was equally strong, including overall sponsor ESP, BitSeek, GCC, and investor Liu Bing from Nantang DAO, as well as hackathon sponsors BGA and Chainlink. These sponsors span multiple fields such as AI, DeFi, public chains, and public goods, demonstrating the broad influence of ETHShanghai within the Ethereum ecosystem.

The Starting Point for Ethereum's Next Decade

ETHShanghai 2025 is not only a grand celebration of Ethereum's tenth anniversary, but also the starting point for the next phase of ecological expansion. From the new narrative of dAI to the leadership of key figures like Vitalik, Hsiao-Wei Wang, Tomasz, to the exploration of cutting-edge projects such as EigenLayer, and the participation of numerous sponsors, this conference will serve as a key engine driving Ethereum into the next decade.

From October 18 to 22, Shanghai will once again become the focal point of the global crypto and Web3 world. Looking forward to witnessing the next glorious chapter of Ethereum together with all builders, researchers, and investors.