Vitalik has confirmed! Ethereum's core members gathered at ETHShanghai to explore the future of scalability and openness.

The fourth ETHShanghai conference, themed "Expanding Ethereum, Shaping an Open Future," will be held in Shanghai from October 18th to 22nd, 2025. Led by ETHPanda and co-hosted by Wanxiang Blockchain Lab, PANews, and TinTinLand, the event is a key gathering for the Ethereum ecosystem.

Key Attendees: The conference will feature Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin and the Ethereum Foundation's new co-executive directors, Hsiao-Wei Wang and Tomasz Stańczak, along with other industry leaders.
Event Structure: The core activities include a main summit on October 22nd for technical discussions and a 72-hour offline hackathon from October 18th to 21st.
Hackathon Tracks: The hackathon will focus on three cutting-edge areas: AI and Ethereum integration, DeFi infrastructure, and Public Goods/Open Source development, with a prize pool of up to $15,000.
Youth Voyage Program: A pre-event initiative aims to sponsor over 30 young Asian developers to attend the conference and participate in the hackathon.
Significance: Positioned as a celebration of Ethereum's tenth anniversary, the conference is designed to be a focal point for developers and researchers, driving innovation for the ecosystem's next decade.

As the global AI wave reshapes the world, Ethereum is actively positioning itself as the neutral and trusted foundation for the emerging smart economy. At this critical juncture, the fourth ETHShanghai conference will be held in Shanghai from October 18th to 22nd, 2025 .

Themed "Expanding Ethereum, Shaping an Open Future," this conference brought together the world's top wisdom and strength, including Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, the new co-executive directors of the Ethereum Foundation Hsiao-Wei Wang and Tomasz Stańczak , and heavyweight guests such as the EigenLayer team, to explore the future of the Ethereum ecosystem.

Led by the Chinese-language developer community ETHPanda and co-hosted by Wanxiang Blockchain Lab, PANews, and TinTinLand , the conference will be held concurrently with the Wanxiang Blockchain Global Summit in the same city, aiming to establish itself as a global focal point for the Web3 world. Centered around a five-day hackathon and summit, the event aims to bring together the most active developers and researchers in the Asia-Pacific region and propel innovation from code to user experience.

Vitalik and other industry leaders gathered

The main summit on October 22nd will be the ultimate stage for technical consensus and the collision of ideas. Over 40 industry leaders will be invited to discuss key topics such as Ethereum's scaling, modular ecosystem, developer growth, and long-term security through keynote speeches and roundtable discussions. The presence of several prominent speakers will be particularly noteworthy, and their insights will chart the course for Ethereum's future development.

As the co-founder and driving force behind Ethereum, Vitalik 's every public statement profoundly influences the industry's trajectory. His presence was undoubtedly a highlight of the conference, and the global community looked forward to his latest cutting-edge insights on core topics such as Ethereum's future roadmap, the integration of AI and blockchain, and DeFi.

Also attracting significant attention is Hsiao-Wei Wang , the new Co-Executive Director of the Ethereum Foundation. She brings a deep technical background. Prior to joining the Foundation's leadership, she spent seven years as a core researcher, making key contributions to the development of Ethereum's sharding and beacon chain. Not only is she well-versed in the underlying protocol, she is also an exceptional community builder, having successfully organized numerous high-quality technical exchange events in Taiwan. She brings a valuable perspective to the Foundation, bridging research and community.

Leading the Foundation alongside Hsiao-Wei Wang is co-Executive Director Tomasz Stańczak , who will also be in attendance. As the founder of Nethermind, the Ethereum execution layer client, he has a background in financial markets engineering and was an early contributor to FlashBots and StarkNet. Known for his exceptional execution and organizational skills, Tomasz has grown Nethermind from an experimental project into a top-tier global blockchain development organization. His arrival aims to infuse the Ethereum Foundation with stronger execution and product-focused thinking, accelerating the development of the ecosystem.

From Youth Voyage to Hackathon

Before the main ETHShanghai event, the "Youth Voyage Program" was launched, aiming to discover and fund at least 30 outstanding young Asian developers. The program budget exceeds 6,000 USDT and provides participants with a transportation subsidy of up to 200 USDT, lowering the threshold for in-person visits to Shanghai and in-depth interaction with the Ethereum core ecosystem. The registration period ends on October 3rd, and the list will be announced on October 10th. Successful candidates will participate in the Shanghai on-site exchange event on October 19th and must also join the ETHShanghai hackathon. Registration portal: ETHShanghai 2025 Youth Voyage Program Application Form

As the technical core and innovation engine of the conference, the 72-hour offline hackathon from October 18th to 21st will ignite Ethereum's next decade of innovation. The event will select approximately 100 top developers from over 500 applications worldwide and incubate 30 to 40 cutting-edge projects.

The hackathon will focus on three cutting-edge tracks:

AI × ETH: Following the Ethereum Foundation’s initiative to establish the DAI team, we will explore the deep integration of AI and Ethereum, and encourage innovation in areas such as smart contract automation, on-chain governance agents, and AI-driven risk control.
DeFi × Infra: Against the backdrop of the evolution of RWA and modular technology, we will promote the reconstruction of financial infrastructure and build a more secure, intelligent and scalable financial network.
Public Goods × Open Source Construction: Strengthen the ecological foundation, support the development of underlying infrastructure and collaboration tools, and promote the sustainable development of open finance and an open society.

Winning projects will share a prize pool of up to $15,000 USD, and track winners will have the opportunity to present their work to top investment institutions on the main summit stage. Participants must submit their GitHub code repository, demo video, and proof of originality. The registration deadline is October 1st. Registration portal: ETHShanghai 2025 Hackathon

New sponsors

The success of ETHShanghai 2025 is inseparable from the strong support of many industry partners. Recently, the conference welcomed three new sponsors, whose participation has injected new vitality into the event.

Nora (Hackathon Sponsor) : The first crypto-native AI programming agent, founded by top talents from MIT, Meta, and DeepMind, dedicated to reducing the development cycle of dApps from weeks to hours.
Injective (After Party Sponsor) : A high-performance Layer-1 blockchain tailored for financial applications. Incubated by Binance and backed by top institutions such as Jump Crypto and Pantera, it provides developers with plug-and-play modules.
Licredity (Voyage Program sponsor) : An ultra-capital-efficient lending marketplace deployed directly within Uniswap V4, maximizing capital efficiency by natively embedding lending functionality into liquidity pools.

These new partners will join previously announced sponsors in supporting the development of the Ethereum ecosystem. The previous sponsor lineup is equally strong, including:

Overall Sponsor

ESP : Committed to funding and supporting the core forces in building Ethereum public products.
BitSeek : The world's first decentralized AI model provider, aiming to build an open, verifiable, user-owned new paradigm of intelligence.
HashKey Chain : The preferred public chain for financial institutions and RWA assets to be on-chain, promoting compliance and scaled-up on-chain finance.
GCC : A non-profit foundation focused on funding the construction of public goods.
Nantang DAO investor Liu Bing: Support China's first DAO that combines Web3 technology with rural development.

Hackathon Sponsors

BGA (Blockchain for Good Alliance) : A non-profit initiative initiated by Bybit to use blockchain technology to solve social welfare issues.
Chainlink : An industry-leading decentralized computing platform that provides core infrastructure for connecting on-chain finance to real-world data.

Towards the 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 ecosystem expansion. From the new narrative of DAI, to the leadership of key figures like Vitalik, Hsiao-Wei Wang, and Tomasz, to the exploration of cutting-edge projects like EigenLayer, and the participation of numerous sponsors, this conference will be a key engine driving Ethereum into the next decade.

From October 18th to 22nd, Shanghai will once again be the focal point of the global crypto and Web3 world. We look forward to witnessing the next glorious chapter of Ethereum with all builders, researchers, and investors.

Official website: https://ethshanghai.org

Official X (Twitter): x.com/EthereumSH

Registration link: https://lu.ma/n11m5knq

For collaboration, please contact: ethpanda.org@gmail.com / panews@panony.com

About the Organizer

Wanxiang Blockchain Lab was established in 2015 by China Wanxiang Holdings Co., Ltd. It brings together experts in the field to conduct research and discussion on technology development, commercial applications, industrial strategy, etc., to provide guidance for entrepreneurs, reference for industry development and policy making, and promote the use of blockchain technology to serve the progress and development of social economy.
ETHPanda is an Ethereum community composed of Chinese-speaking builders. It is committed to connecting Chinese-speaking builders with the international Ethereum ecosystem through education, public services, events, and technological innovation, and jointly promoting the continued development and innovation of Ethereum.
PANews is a leading think tank information platform in the field of blockchain and Web3.0, created by traditional media professionals and senior industry professionals.
TinTinLand is a technology community that empowers the next generation of developers. By gathering, cultivating, and delivering developers to various open networks, we jointly define and build the future.