Imagine a scenario in which your digital Mona Lisa could be stolen from you. Or for no reason at all, simply because a remote, centralized authority doesn’t like it. Sounds like dystopian fiction, right? Wrong. Today’s internet presents a considerable danger. This is why Ethereum’s efforts towards a Layer 1 zkEVM are so key.

Censorship Is The New Beige

Beige. Bland. Unnoticeable. That's what censorship aims to be. It doesn't always come with a bang. Sometimes, it's a slow fade, a quiet removal, a subtle manipulation of narratives. Just like a beige wall slowly sucks the life out of a room, censorship leeches the soul from the internet. And it's spreading like wildfire.

We’ve witnessed artists get deplatformed, become silenced, and whole communities get shut down for simply having the audacity to speak against the status quo. Recall how back in early 2023, NFT platforms were beginning to delist CryptoPunks in light of ongoing copyright lawsuits. Or when OnlyFans almost banned adult content? It's a slippery slope, folks.

The promise of Web3 was meant to be just that. Decentralization, freedom, ownership. But even in crypto, the long arm of centralized control is seeking to reach in. That's where zkEVM comes in.

zkEVM: The Gandalf of Ethereum

Okay, maybe not literally Gandalf. But think about it: Gandalf the Grey arrives to turn the tide of battle, bringing ancient wisdom and power to a seemingly hopeless situation. ZkEVM? Same vibes. In a nutshell, zkEVM uses these zero-knowledge proofs. This cryptographic sleight of hand is what allows validators to confirm transactions without seeing any information about those transactions. It’s akin to demonstrating you can solve a Rubik’s Cube while not disclosing how you did it to anyone. This allows validators to verify a block is valid without having to replay the entire transaction.

Sophia Gold, a developer at the Ethereum Foundation and her team are working to bring us “real-time proving.” Their goal is to validate blocks in less than 10 seconds! That's warp speed! The goal of "home proving" – letting individual stakers participate in the process from their own computers – is chef's kiss decentralization.

The kicker? The Ethereum Foundation would like to see this live within a year. Talk about a level up.

So why should you care about all this when it comes to art, memes, and your precious JPEGs? That’s because censorship resistance is the foundation of all digital ownership. If your NFT can be deleted at the whim of some corporation, is it truly an NFT that you own? I think not.

Memes Will Save The World

Memes are the language of the internet. They’re how we communicate nuanced thoughts, tell stories, and mock the ridiculousness of the world around us. They’re tremendously potent tools for social criticism and you might have seen this coming – resistance.

Imagine Doge, Pepe, or even the “Distracted Boyfriend” meme. What started as dumb dad jokes soon became cultural monuments. Today, Americans use them to signal everything from pocketbook worries to faith in the American experiment.

If we’re serious about a decentralized, censorship-resistant future, we need to meme-ify the principle of censorship resistance. We just have to figure out how to package it in a way that’s cool, relatable, and shareable. It’s going to take art, humor, and storytelling to help people understand why this new technology is so important.

Now picture NFTs that react to those censorship attempts, or that celebrate an act of resistance. Or decentralized content generators that let anyone, anywhere, produce and circulate their own content impervious to DMCA download removals. The possibilities are endless.

Ethereum’s EcoDev team have been releasing grants and funding programs to ensure this becomes a reality. That’s amazing news, but that means it’s time for you to help! Back artists and developers committed to creating tools that will help us make censorship resistant. Spread the word among your friends and family about why decentralization is important. And, yes, make some damn memes.

That said, the fight for a free and open internet is clearly just beginning. But alongside Ethereum’s zkEVM and a lot of meme magic, we could be in with a fighting chance. The future of crypto, and the future of digital expression, rests on it. Don’t let it be beige.