Ethereum’s architecture is designed for flexibility, allowing it to support a wide range of applications and assets. Rather than being built for a specific industry or to support a specific function, Ethereum’s initial vision was to create an open platform that could host fully expressive, arbitrary programs. This means that developers can create "smart contracts" — auto-executing programs — that are publicly available for use on Ethereum and enable customisable assets and applications.
Because of this flexibility, any asset or application that can be represented digitally has the potential to operate on Ethereum, making it a useful platform for experimentation.
To many Ethereum proponents, its flexibility is a major advantage that will allow it to adapt to user preferences over time, so long as developers are willing to build products that accommodate the latest trends in consumer demand. In theory, is it true that Ethereum could support almost any digital use case, offering a foundational layer for new technologies and services. In practice however, Ethereum has not historically been able to furnish all the properties necessary to make every application or asset attractive and competitive relative to alternatives.