Vitalik Buterin’s Vision for Ethereum

Vitalik Buterin wishes Ethereum to continue developing novel solutions to age-old problems. 

During a conversation with David Hoffman, Buterin told the Permissionless audience in Austin, Texas, that the current app landscape has “future chutes,” but even the newest is “not inventive enough.” 

DeFi is cool, NFTs are basic but “an extension of something with a history,” and crypto payments are excellent but conventional.

Buterin explained that these are “individual parts designed to integrate into an otherwise unchanged ecosystem.” His passion is decentralized social, and he frequently mentions Farcaster, a Twitter-like protocol built on the OP mainnet with an invite-only alpha release of the Warpcast mobile app. 

Like Lens, developed by Aave co-founder Stani Kulechov and running on Polygon’s proof-of-stake chain, Farcaster and other social experiences utilize crypto tools to contend with centralized platforms. 

Buterin stated, “Let’s see how far we can drive things in that direction.” But I see a long-term future where it can integrate into our other activities as a space. 

Developing Sybil-resistance so that “the 894 likes are 894 people, not 894 Kremlin-controlled accounts. ” 

Buterin believes crypto-based solutions such as ENS, numerous proof-of-humanity concepts, POAPs (or an improved version utilizing zero-knowledge technology), and Gitcoin Passport can be more decentralized, privacy-preserving, and secure than Web2. 

“The ultimate goal is to develop an independent, open-source technology platform,” Buterin added. Something to compete with Google and Twitter without a restricted, centralized system, such as WeChat, Alipay, and CBDC in China. 

Buterin proposes a gradual on-ramp for new Web3 users to generate an Ethereum address, initially controlled by Gmail but leveraging account abstraction to permit ownership when they are ready to employ crypto-native methods. 

“Offer people the opportunity to slide down the decentralization ladder and then, in the end, really be in this entirely independent stack that functions together with all its components,” he explained.