Vitalik Buterin on protecting users when perfect crypto security is impossible

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin outlined a framework for crypto security centered on redundancy, multi-angle verification and human-centered design, arguing that protecting users requires closing the gap between their intent and system behavior. He rejects the notion of perfect security at a time when platforms still face wallet hacks, smart contract exploits and privacy risks.

Buterin wrote that perfect security is impossible because a user’s intent is an extremely complex object: even sending 1 ETH involves assumptions about identity, blockchain forks and common-sense knowledge that cannot be fully encoded. Preserving privacy adds layers of difficulty, since metadata patterns, message timing and behavioral signals can leak sensitive information and turn seemingly trivial actions into catastrophic losses.

To address these limits, he advocates redundancy: users specify intent through multiple overlapping methods and systems act only when those specifications align.

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