Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin warned about the influence of large investors on the network during the Devconnect conference in Buenos Aires. He emphasized that institutional presence could seriously undermine the core values of the platform.
This is reported by Business • Media
Threats to the Community and Technical Development of Ethereum
According to Buterin, institutional interest creates two existential threats to the Ethereum ecosystem. Firstly, there is a risk of losing the community of developers who have shaped the core of the network for years. Secondly, institutional players could influence the technical development of the platform, making it less accessible to ordinary users.
Buterin specifically noted that large companies like BlackRock could alienate active participants in the crypto community. In his view, if the network becomes a tool for Wall Street, developers may abandon the project, threatening to lose technical expertise and the ideological foundation of decentralization.
“If Ethereum primarily becomes a tool for institutional finance, these developers may leave. And without them, Ethereum will lose the technical expertise and ideological foundation that supports its decentralization,” Buterin stated.
The Importance of Openness and Resistance to Censorship
The second danger Buterin identified is the potential pressure on the technical parameters of the network. In particular, he cited the example of blocks with a 150-millisecond interval, which are convenient for high-frequency trading but significantly complicate the operation of regular nodes and raise the entry barrier for new users.
In Buterin’s opinion, the only way to preserve the ideals of Ethereum is to focus on openness, globality, and resistance to censorship. These values must remain at the forefront of the platform’s further development.
Previously, Buterin noted that the base layer of the Ethereum blockchain should eventually transition to a stable state with minimal changes to ensure the reliability of the system for users.