Vitalik Buterin has warned that Ethereum's founding principles - decentralization, user sovereignty, and privacy - are in danger of eroding. In a Tweet announcing his new vision of Ethereum for the Year 2026 (which he believes is when Ethereum must reclaim lost ground), he noted that compromises made by Ethereum must end so that its core values can be restored. Many people in cryptocurrency agree that this message resonates and encourages open conversation about how to combine integrity with innovation.
Ethereum has become a major player in both DeFi and NFTs. Buterin's message is a "choice point" for Ethereum as an organization: Will Ethereum prioritize short-term growth over long-term sustainability? Or, can Ethereum achieve real scalability while not compromising its core values? In this article, the author outlines Buterin's concerns regarding Ethereum's struggles and his vision for Ethereum to have a greater focus on users. Improvements to user privacy, improvements to node operation, and improvements to decentralization will enable Ethereum to redefine the way the average person thinks about blockchain technology.
Ethereum began in 2015 as a “world computer” — a global open platform where everyone could develop and deploy applications without an intermediary. Etheruem was built on three major principles:
Ethereum was designed so that it would not have to rely upon trust in an organisation/institution but rather upon trust in the underlying code. As Ethereum grew larger, scalability issues came along and hurt the user experience when it came to applying Ethereum. Vitalik Buterin believes that these scalability and convenience compromises have compromised Ethereum's uniqueness as it has become more like the traditional centralised version of the web that it was originally intended to replace.
The demand for lower fees and quicker transaction times has sometimes prioritized speed and efficiency over reliability/resilience. Upgrades to ETH (ether) such as the Merge to Proof of Stake (PoS) have provided improved energy efficiency for network operations; however, these upgrades have added additional complexity to the operation of independent nodes and may reduce the ability to operate independent nodes for many users. In addition, this centralization of control places greater power and responsibility in the hands of a few major operators, which is contrary to the original ideals of Ethereum.
The Ethereum ecosystem has seen many changes in the last ten years, some of which, according to Vitalik Buterin, represent a "serious backsliding." What was once a simple, user-friendly, and inexpensive approach has changed into a highly complex, difficult-to-use structure that relies heavily on third parties.
Examples of how this has changed include:
It used to be easy to verify the Ethereum blockchain from your own computer; however, due to bandwidth and storage requirements associated with running a full node, many have begun relying on professional validators rather than participating as individual users themselves.
The way decentralized applications (dApps) currently work means that they often send user data (including transaction data and browsing history) to multiple servers, rendering that data vulnerable. Wallets that allowed customers to connect directly to nodes are now utilising Remote Procedure Calls (RPCs) to connect through a centralised server to transmit information, compromising their users' ability to maintain privacy in regards to their transactions.
While Ethereum has always provided guarantees to allow equal access and inclusion in blockchain transaction ordering, those guarantees are beginning to fade as fewer and fewer builders influence blocks.
These issues are directly connected to Ethereum's desire to appeal to the mass market. User-friendly interfaces and integrations with traditional finance have enabled Ethereum to reach millions of users; however, the resulting compromise on core principles represents what Vitalik Buterin calls "dilution for mass adoption." What he is questioning is whether or not what was gained through the compromise is worth what was lost. As a result, there is a risk that Ethereum may become nothing more than an efficient tool for enabling people to transact with each other, rather than a revolutionary agent of freedom.
Buterin's X post in January 2026 stated that he had a new vision for Ethereum, writing "No longer do we make these compromises in 2026…I have set out a members only roadmap to ensure that each value compromise that has occurred…up until now will no longer happen." He further states that this will restore self sovereignty to individuals (which is why he believes in restoring it) but not compromise usability. Proposed Improvements.include:
As most transactions are on the blockchain and public by default, this has created a number of issues for privacy. Vitalik Buterin has argued in favour of allowing people to make private payments easily in their wallets while also allowing them to do so easily for public services. By using new technologies such as an ERC-4337 mempool, and eventually native AA with a FOCIL (First Order Censorship Immunity Layer) built-in, the ability to send private transactions that are censorship resistant will be possible without reliance upon public broadcasting methods that allow your information to be exposed.
To encourage equal participation, Buterin has mentioned the upcoming implementation of two tools called ZK-EVM (Zero-Knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machine) and BAL (probably Balancing or Optimisation Protocol). With these two tools, you will easily verify the Ethereum blockchain locally through everyday devices. Also, Helios will enable personal verification of RPC data by each user, leading to reduced blind dependence on providers.
Users risk losing funds or access to their dApps if their server is breached or taken down; however, by using an on-chain UI and the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) to support a decentralised UI, users will have multiple points of redundancy. A user will access the dApp itself without being affected by any server issues. Therefore, it supports Ethereum's goal of building a decentrally controlled application. The change to an on-chain user interface hosted on IPFS will allow the dApp to function as it was intended—fully decentralised.
Users will be able to search and access data through RPCs without revealing their interests anymore, which also would stop companies from selling people's data to third parties after using tools such as ORAM (Oblivious RAM) and PIR (Private Information Retrieval). Additionally, social recovery wallets with timelocks provide an even greater level of security against the loss or theft of seed phrases while at the same time not having backdoors from tech companies, including Google.
Buterin believes these changes will not happen in a short period of time: "As we develop these [upgrades] like the Kohaku and Glamsterdam hard forks, we will continue to move toward the goal of ETH that meets the so-called 'walkaway test'—an Ethereum that is able to sustain itself for years without any changes being made or continuing with the need for ongoing development by developers."
Beyond addressing the issues at hand, Buterin is focused on long-term solutions for creating cryptographically secure systems that defend against potential future threats posed by quantum computing technology. Finally, he envisions a future for DeFi that involves decentralized stablecoins, which are backed by a wide array of different assets and not limited to the US dollar so as to distance themselves from the influence of government or traditional banks.
According to Buterin, the idea behind Ethereum's creation is to pursue true financial freedom rather than convenience. If Ethereum can incorporate these types of changes into its design and implementation, it could be able to become the "Linux of the open internet of value" with an extensible, reliable, and open-source model similar to the operating system used by many servers around the world.
The Ethereum team believes that their goal of achieving the blockchain trilemma (i.e., achieving the correct balance between security, scalability, and decentralization) will allow them to effectively compete and grow without sacrificing anything along the way.
Instead of merely saying that growth is not something to be shunned by the Ethereum community, Buterin would rather offer Blueprint on how Ethereum expands healthily & sustainably through persistently growing our community base into more sustainable practice as society becomes increasingly mainstream. When mainstream adoption happens, it will not be a one-size-fits-all solution; instead, it will provide an equal opportunity for everyone to experience decentralized benefits. As Ethereum's user base becomes more aware of what our values are, we will be able to attract many users that appreciate both privacy and control over their digital assets, which will allow Ethereum to be unique compared with competing platforms (i.e. Solana and Binance Smart Chain).
Developers, investors, and users will benefit from the improved security surrounding and within the ecosystem. Picture yourself running a node on your laptop and at the same time you can now make private payments easily and utilize dApps that cannot be identified centrally and hacked. The marketability and market position of Ethereum can potentially improve as trust in the Ethereum brand continues to grow; likewise, Trust in ETH's overall value can improve as a direct result of this development.
Ultimately, as a call to action, Buterin essentially stated that the goal of his post was not to burn bridges as much as to stop sacrificing core Ethereum ideals while creating a chain capable of true potential for our community. The conclusion of his blog stated, "In the World Computer, there will be no overarching superior entity, single point of failure or central authority. Rather, there is merely LOVE." If Ethereum listens to this call, Ethereum will not only solidify itself as the established leader of creativity but can reach and expand to provide further dominance within this digital period ahead. All those interested in crypto's future should follow Ethereum's continued maturation.
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