Ethereum co-founder calls for renewed focus on core mission in 2026

2026-01-02 01:27:33

Source: Yellow Original Title: Ethereum Co-founder Calls for Renewed Focus on Core Mission in 2026

Original Link: Ethereum (ETH), with its co-founder Vitalik Buterin, called for a renewed focus on building decentralized infrastructure rather than chasing short-term narratives in a New Year message.

Buterin acknowledged significant technical achievements in 2025, while warning that the network must accelerate progress toward becoming a “world computer.”

The message comes as cryptocurrency markets enter 2026 amid competing narratives about tokenization and meme coins.

Buterin emphasized that applications should operate independently, without corporate dependencies or third-party interference.

What happened

Ethereum achieved multiple technical milestones in 2025, including increasing the gas limit from 30 million to 36 million units.

Blob capacity was expanded from three to six through the Pectra upgrade, with further increases planned.

Ethereum virtual machines with zero-knowledge proof (zkEVM) reduced proof times from 16 minutes to 16 seconds, a 60-fold improvement.

The network deployed PeerDAS technology, enabling significant scaling of blob performance without proportionally increasing node bandwidth requirements.

Buterin contrasted Ethereum’s vision with consumer products that increasingly require subscriptions and create a permanent dependency of users on centralized entities.

He argued that the network must improve usability, scalability, and decentralization both at the blockchain layer and in applications.

Why it matters

The message highlights a potential tension between Ethereum’s technical roadmap and the demands of the speculative asset market.

Buterin specifically criticized the focus on “winning the next goal,” whether through tokenized dollars or meme coins.

His emphasis on applications passing the “abandonment test,” meaning they continue to operate even if the original developers disappear, sets high standards for ecosystem projects.

The technical achievements position Ethereum for higher transaction throughput while maintaining security guarantees.

The Ethereum Foundation separately outlined security milestones for 2026, requiring zkEVM teams to achieve demonstrable 128-bit security by the end of the year.

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