Buterin says Ethereum must remain valuable if developers stop active work

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin said the protocol must reach a point where its value proposition remains even if developers stop active work, writing on X that “we must get to a place where Ethereum's value proposition does not strictly depend on any features that are not in the protocol already.” Buterin argued protocols should be like hammers: once purchased, they remain usable rather than losing function when a vendor walks away.

He said the network needs core features fully in place so builders can choose to ossify the protocol. He outlined seven focus areas, including a full quantum-resistance solution, a scalable architecture with Zero-Knowledge EVMs (ZK-EVM) and Peer Data Availability Sampling (PeerDAS) to enable thousands of transactions per second, a general-purpose account model for signature validation, a robust gas schedule, and a block-building model that resists centralization and censorship.

Buterin added that implementing ZK-EVM validation and PeerDAS would improve decentralization, consensus and bandwidth, and help address the blockchain trilemma.

Key Topics

Crypto, Ethereum, Vitalik Buterin, Zk-evm, Peerdas, Quantum Resistance