ETHShanghai 2026 will be held in Shanghai on Sept. 22 under the theme “Ethereum Renaissance.” The full-day event will examine Ethereum’s early ideals, the challenges facing its ecosystem, the intersection of artificial intelligence and Web3, and the direction of its next phase.
The conference is framed as an effort to look past short-term market narratives and revisit Ethereum’s place in the digital economy. The central question is broader than a technology upgrade or another period of ecosystem expansion: what kind of infrastructure can Ethereum become as AI reshapes the internet?
Organizers describe Ethereum as more than a blockchain or financial network. They will explore its possible role as an open, trusted and verifiable digital infrastructure for value, collaboration and innovation in the next generation of the internet.
Ethereum’s changing identity
The 2026 conference will present Ethereum as an ecosystem undergoing a significant identity shift. On the technical side, it must address how Layer 1 and Layer 2 networks can scale together. On the governance side, it must confront who gets to define Ethereum’s future. Economically, the ecosystem still faces the question of how growth can translate into value for ETH.
The event will also examine a change in Ethereum’s wider narrative, from a smart-contract blockchain toward infrastructure capable of supporting a global on-chain economy.
ETHShanghai will return to the questions that shaped Ethereum from the white paper era. Ethereum has represented more than a world computer, a public chain or a technical architecture. Its stated values have included technical self-sovereignty, resistance to censorship, public goods, and the idea that no single power should gain total control over cyberspace.
Those questions have gained fresh urgency as computing power, data and models become increasingly concentrated in a small number of major companies. AI is changing information, productivity and the relationship between people and machines, bringing several long-running crypto debates back into focus.
Four themes for a return to first principles
The program will be organized around four questions: “Where did we come from?”, “What are we losing?”, “AI × Web3,” and “Where are we going?” The day’s discussions will repeatedly return to the five values represented by CROPS: censorship resistance, capture resistance, open source, privacy and security.
Where did we come from?
The first theme will revisit Ethereum’s development from the white paper, crowdfunding and mainnet launch through The DAO, initial coin offerings, DeFi Summer and the market peak of 2021.
Early developers, DeFi builders and industry veterans will look back at why they entered the field and what they believed at the time. The discussion will also ask how much of those original beliefs remains after the industry has passed through periods of excitement, expansion and cyclical change.
This section is intended as more than a history review. It will also ask whether the industry still remembers what it initially wanted to change.
What are we losing?
The second theme will focus on the industry’s current tensions. ETHShanghai will examine how idealism may have faded under the pressure of meme coins, speculation, venture-capital-backed tokens and the attention economy. It will also question why decentralization, censorship resistance and personal sovereignty have been repeatedly pulled into financial speculation.
The conversation will then turn to AI. Artificial intelligence is drawing talent, capital and computing power from around the world while collecting, training on and restructuring data produced by people. Privacy, data sovereignty and individual control are becoming central questions for the AI era.
The conference will pose a direct question about the current cycle: did crypto really lose a market, or did it lose some of its original purpose?
AI × Web3
The third theme is a direct response to the AI wave. AI is moving from “downloading the internet” toward modeling the physical world, and from chat interfaces into real-world applications. At the same time, compute, models and data are becoming more concentrated in a small group of companies.
Speakers will consider whether Web3 can make a powerful centralized AI black box verifiable, ownable and accountable. The focus will not be limited to connecting a blockchain to AI. It will also ask how people can retain control of their data, identities and choices in a digital world increasingly populated by agents.
Two roundtables will address who owns AI models, how AI can connect with on-chain systems after entering the physical world, and Ethereum’s ideas of a “digital sanctuary” and personal sovereignty. Topics will include open source, decentralized compute, data sovereignty, verifiability, agents, autonomous identity and privacy.
Where are we going?
The fourth theme will ask who should define the future and who will build it. Prediction markets, stablecoins, tokenized U.S. equities, the space economy and the Network State concept will be placed on the same map of possible directions. Some of these topics are already developing, while others remain ideas.
The program will look beyond the question of what the next hot trend might be. It will ask what kind of future people can imagine today and how that imagination shapes the world they may build tomorrow.
Global sponsorship applications open
ETHShanghai 2026 is presented as a technical gathering focused on AI and crypto applications, as well as an opportunity to revisit Ethereum’s values and original purpose. The event will consider Ethereum’s early period, its downturns and the doubts around it, along with the challenges posed by AI, capital and centralized forces. It will also discuss the place of decentralization, censorship resistance, openness and personal sovereignty in the next internet.
Global sponsorship applications are open. Diamond, Platinum and Gold sponsorship tiers are available for ecosystem projects, institutions and brands seeking on-site exposure, brand presentation and ecosystem connections.
The event’s participation links are Luma at https://luma.com/365uky1b, the official website at https://ethshanghai.org/, and the X account at x.com/EthereumSH.
Organizers and supporting organizations
ETHPanda is an Ethereum community formed by Chinese-speaking builders. It works through education, public services, events and technical innovation to connect Chinese-speaking builders with the international Ethereum ecosystem.
PANews is an information and research platform focused on blockchain and Web3.0. It provides readers with international news and research reports. The Excited Few is a collective of freelance writers carrying on the cypherpunk tradition. It studies the threats posed by centralized AI and holds that no single power should have the authority to define the whole truth in cyberspace.
Supporting organizations include GCC, Wanxiang Blockchain Labs, LXDAO, Web3Buidler.Tech and ETH HK Hub.
- GCC supports Chinese-language digital public goods and open-source ecosystems, with a focus on Ethereum, developer education, open-source tools and infrastructure projects.
- Wanxiang Blockchain Labs was established in 2015 by China Wanxiang Holding. It brings together experts to study technical research, commercial applications and industrial strategy, while offering guidance to entrepreneurs and reference material for industry development and policy formulation.
- LXDAO is a research and development decentralized autonomous organization focused on sustainable support for Web3 public goods and open-source projects.
- Web3Buidler.Tech is a technical co-building community focused on innovation at the intersection of Web3 and AI.
- ETH HK Hub was initiated by the Ethereum Foundation and is operated by SNZ and ETHTAO. It is described as Asia’s first physical Ethereum community center and a global hub connecting East and West as well as Web2 and Web3. The center brings together developers, entrepreneurs, investors, community members and Web3 builders, with space for collaborative work, community exchange and joint project development.
ETHShanghai 2026 will take place in Shanghai on Sept. 22.