Disclosure: This is an op-ed. The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not reflect the views and opinions of The Defiant. On the surface, Ethereum may appear to have lagged behind some of its peers over the last few months, but in reality the birth chain of smart contracts and decentralized applications is getting ready to steal the spotlight. Don’t let the cheap memes cloud your vision — ETH ETFs’ just had their biggest day since February, bringing in $38.7M on April 22nd alone. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin also recently noted in an X post about Ethereum developments that so-called based rollups, a type of layer 2 scaling solution, were “making rapid progress.” Not to mention the potential of the fast approaching Pectra upgrade , slated for early May, to level up the network, including improved staking. To continue reading this as well as other DeFi and Web3 news, visit us at thedefiant.io