Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin commented on X about the discussion that Ethereum is currently developing contrary to what venture funds are betting on. In his response, he touched on the topic of decentralized stablecoins and explained why their development is being held back.
Buterin highlighted three main problems. The first is the lack of an adequate benchmark instead of the US dollar; in his opinion, the industry needs a different price index. The second concerns oracles, which must be decentralized and protected from the influence of large capital. The third problem is competition from staking yields, which reduces interest in decentralized stablecoins.
Buterin on Why Stablecoins Should Be Decentralized
According to the Ethereum co-founder, in the short term, it is acceptable for stablecoins to be pegged to the dollar. However, in terms of long-term sustainability, such assets should be guided by a more independent indicator, not just mirror the USD rate.
He believes this would help protect users in situations where the dollar faces serious problems, including periods of accelerated inflation associated with a specific fiat currency.
Commenting on governance in crypto projects, Buterin noted that this is exactly why he regularly criticizes financially oriented governance models. According to him, they lack a balance between defense and attack, so stability is achieved only by constantly extracting value. He calls this logic one of the reasons why he is not ready to completely abandon the idea of DAO.
Speaking about staking yields, Buterin emphasized that staking itself is not bad. Without it, yields would drop to just a few percent per year, which he considers a bad scenario. Among possible solutions, he mentioned lowering staking yields to about 0.2%, or creating an alternative type of staking with yields close to the usual, but without the same penalty risks.
At the same time, Buterin clarified that penalty risks in staking are not only related to the validator’s own mistakes. They also arise in cases of network inactivity or when validators participate in coordinated transaction blocking.
He also reminded that when creating a stablecoin, you cannot limit yourself to a fixed amount of collateral in ETH. In the event of sharp drawdowns, the project must be ready to rebalance, otherwise stability will be at risk.
Ethereum as a Bet Against the Market
The discussion that Vitalik Buterin responded to began with a post on X by Gabriel Shapiro, a well-known crypto lawyer and founder of MetaLeX. Shapiro wrote that Ethereum is increasingly looking like a bet against what most venture funds in crypto are investing in today.
According to him, the interests of VC are increasingly focused on gambling, CeDeFi, custodial stablecoins, and neo-banks. Meanwhile, Ethereum, as Shapiro believes, is moving in the opposite direction, emphasizing redistribution of power and strengthening user sovereignty.
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Many in the comments supported this point of view. Users noted that the listed venture directions are more related to short-term profit extraction and maintaining control, not to decentralization, for which crypto was originally created.
One participant in the discussion wrote that the Ethereum bet is actually a bet on freedom. Another put it even more bluntly, noting that Ethereum is betting on sovereignty, while venture funds are chasing crypto casinos.
Buterin Acknowledges Bitcoin Community’s Contribution to Network Sovereignty
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin spoke about what he calls “corporate noise” in the crypto industry. According to him, this often disguises products that appear user-oriented but actually deprive them of control and independence.
Buterin specifically noted the foresight of bitcoin maximalists. He acknowledged that bitcoin supporters timely abandoned ICOs, third-party tokens, and arbitrary applications, thereby keeping the network independent and not sliding into a corporate model.
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At the same time, he also pointed out mistakes made by part of this community. In his opinion, attempts to protect bitcoin’s sovereignty through government pressure or by restricting user capabilities turned out to be the wrong path. Nevertheless, Buterin emphasized that the concerns of bitcoin maximalists themselves were justified.
Many in the comments supported the idea that Ethereum remains one of the key platforms in the fight for decentralization today. However, users also acknowledged that the path to a truly sustainable and independent ecosystem will be long.
