The Internet Already Knew the Answer: The Final Form of Web3 Once Sustainable L1 Funding Arrives

※ This article is published as a current version first and will be updated in two days to match the final Daily Crypto Times (DCT) format.

Why Permissionless Infrastructure Wins

Reading the Future of Web3 Through the History of the Internet

As finance and value become increasingly digital, the world is in growing need of a neutral, shared settlement infrastructure.
Among the candidates for this global settlement layer, Ethereum stands out as the most credible option.

If you want to understand this article in greater depth, the following three background pieces will make the overall picture much clearer:
① Why Stripe, JP Morgan, and Circle Will Never Use Each Other’s Chains — and Why the Future Is L1 + L2
② If Ethereum Falls, the Blockchain Falls: How the Ecosystem Will Respond to the Funding Crisis
③ The Future of Blockchain Was Already in the Internet: L1 Public Goods and the L2 Co‑Funding Model
Together, these three articles provide essential context for how Web3 infrastructure is evolving.

Against this backdrop, Ethlabs has recently launched as a non‑profit R&D lab dedicated to Ethereum and ETH.
Its mission is simple: to make Ethereum the settlement layer of the global economy.

Ethlabs emphasizes three core principles:
① Credible neutrality — an open base layer that no single actor can control,
② The role of ETH — the most valuable and programmable on‑chain asset,
③ Adoption — it is real usage, not just principles, that ultimately grows an ecosystem.

This vision from Ethlabs offers an important clue as to how the global settlement layer for future finance can be built.
It also provides a starting point for understanding where Web3 infrastructure is heading and why permissionless architectures are structurally positioned to win over the long term.
And it is precisely at this point that a critical challenge for Web3 comes into focus.

This article examines that core challenge: the sustainable funding model for permissionless L1s.

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1) The internet’s winning formula: Open base + private applications

Looking back at the evolution of technology infrastructure, a clear pattern emerges in what survives over the long term. The internet followed this pattern, and Web3 is now walking a similar path.

Today’s internet runs from Layer 1 to Layer 4 on open, neutral, de facto standard protocols. Foundations like TCP/IP, HTTP, and DNS are not owned by anyone and function as public infrastructure that anyone can use.

On top of this open base, companies have freely built private applications tailored to their own purposes. This combination is what allowed the internet to scale globally and unleash an explosion of innovation.

Open infrastructure + private app layer — this is the combination that made the internet win.

2) The structural limits of private and consortium blockchains

Many enterprises want to build “their own blockchain,” but private and consortium chains are structurally destined to fail at global scale.

• It is difficult to host a truly global payments and settlement layer on them,
• Network participation is restricted,
• Trust is concentrated in specific entities,
• Strong network effects are hard to achieve, and
• The closed nature of the system makes it difficult for external innovation to flow in.

In the end, these chains are not so different from “enterprise intranets.” Just as the internet outcompeted intranets, permissionless chains are structurally positioned to outcompete private chains over the long run.

3) The answer: Permissionless L1 + enterprise‑grade secure L2

Both L1 and L2 handle global transactions. The difference lies in their roles.

• L1 is a permissionless global settlement layer that anyone in the world can participate in,
• L2 serves as a private execution environment tailored to enterprise needs, while still interoperating globally as a kind of private blockchain.

This structure is the most realistic way to reinterpret the internet’s winning formula for the Web3 era.

L1: Permissionless, credibly neutral global infrastructure

L1s like Ethereum are open, neutral, and permissionless, providing a global settlement and trust layer. Only such infrastructure can truly support worldwide transactions and trust.

L2: A global private execution layer that preserves enterprise data security

Enterprises need data privacy, regulatory compliance, and integration with internal systems. They can run their own L2s tailored to these requirements, while delegating settlement, proofs, and trust to a permissionless L1, thus remaining globally connected while maintaining enterprise‑grade security.

4) The unresolved issue: A sustainable funding model for permissionless L1s

The internet is operated by ISPs that manage regionally segmented Autonomous Systems (AS). These ISPs sustain network infrastructure, technological innovation, and global traffic handling based on the fees paid by users. In other words, there is a clear structure in which innovation capital ultimately flows from users to ISPs.

Permissionless L1s, however, face a different situation. They operate global infrastructure, yet there is still no clear, stable model for how they should fund ongoing operations and technical innovation.

Today, many ecosystems rely on foundation treasuries, early investors, or limited ecosystem funds. But such models are not sustainable in the long run.

For a permissionless L1 to truly become “global public infrastructure,” it needs a clear and durable revenue model, much like the ISP model on the internet.

In practice, this means establishing a structure in which stable capital flows from L1 users or L2 institutions back to the L1.
L2s pay settlement costs to L1, users indirectly contribute to L1 through L2, and L1 uses that capital to sustain network security, performance, and ongoing innovation.

The ISP revenue model can serve as an important reference point for how permissionless L1s should design their long‑term funding structures.

Summary: Toward the final form of Web3 infrastructure

As with the internet, it is highly likely that open and neutral infrastructure will ultimately win in Web3. Private chains, like closed intranets, are structurally constrained.

The direction we are heading in is becoming increasingly clear.

Permissionless L1 + enterprise‑grade secure L2 + a sustainable L1 funding model
This is a leading candidate for the future of global trust infrastructure — and the core challenge Web3 must solve.

Younchan Jung
Researcher exploring structural shifts in AI, blockchain, and the on‑chain economy.

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