Ethereum’s co-founder, Vitalik Buterin, says teh network’s biggest hurdle isn’t technical upgrades anymore-it’s proving it can truly deliver on its promise as a decentralized, global platform.
Beyond the Hype: Ethereum’s Real Test
Buterin urges a shift from chasing trends like memecoins to fulfilling Ethereum’s original vision.
- Buterin celebrated technical progress in 2025,including improvements to speed and reliability.
- He emphasized the need for a “walkaway test” – applications functioning even without their creators.
- Achieving global scale requires simultaneous advancements in usability and decentralization.
In a New Year’s message posted Thursday on X,Buterin said Ethereum made “meaningful progress” in 2025,becoming faster,more reliable,and better equipped to handle growth without sacrificing its decentralized design. These improvements allow the network to process more activity, reduce congestion, and simplify software operation for more users.
Buterin cautioned that technical achievements are only valuable if they support ethereum’s core purpose. “Ethereum needs to do more to meet its own stated goals,” he wrote,expressing concern over efforts to capitalize on fleeting trends like tokenized dollars or political memecoins,or artificially inflating network activity to create a false impression of economic success.
A “World Computer” for the Future
Buterin envisions Ethereum as a “world computer”-a neutral foundation for applications that can operate without the risk of fraud, censorship, or control by a single entity. He highlighted the importance of a “walkaway test,” where systems continue to function even if their original developers are no longer involved.Users, he argued, shouldn’t experience disruptions if major infrastructure providers fail or are compromised.
Ethereum,he stated,must together achieve global scalability and maintain decentralization. This challenge extends beyond the blockchain itself, encompassing the tools users employ to access it and the applications built upon it-many of which currently rely on centralized services.
All of these pieces must be improved – they are already being improved, but they must be improved more. Fortunately,we have powerful tools on our side – but we need to apply them,and we will.
Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum Co-FounderRelated: Strategy Resumes Bitcoin Buying, Lifting Holdings to 672,497 BTC
What does it mean for Ethereum to be truly decentralized? It means applications can run reliably and securely, even if the people who created them disappear or if the companies hosting them experience outages.
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