Ethereum’s Real Test Is Still Ahead, Vitalik Buterin Says
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin used a New Year’s message to reflect on a year of significant technical progress for the Ethereum network — while cautioning that the platform’s long-term success depends on staying true to its original mission rather than chasing the latest crypto narratives.
In a post shared Thursday on X, Buterin said Ethereum made meaningful advances in 2025, becoming faster, more reliable, and better able to scale without compromising its decentralized foundations. He described a year marked by steady improvements that reduced bottlenecks, increased capacity, and made it easier for users to run the software that underpins the network.
Taken together, those changes, he said, bring Ethereum closer to functioning as a new kind of shared computing platform rather than just another blockchain.
A Year Of Quiet Technical Progress
Buterin framed 2025 as a year in which the blockchain’s core infrastructure matured. While high-profile narratives often dominate attention in crypto markets, he emphasized that less visible work — improving performance, stability, and usability — was critical to preparing the network for long-term growth.
Those efforts, he noted, are aimed at enabling Ethereum to handle more activity while preserving the properties that distinguish it from centralized systems. Lower barriers to running nodes and maintaining the network, he argued, are especially important for keeping Ethereum open and resilient as usage expands.
Warning Against Chasing The “Next Meta”
Despite that progress, Buterin made clear that technical milestones are not the end goal. He warned that Ethereum risks drifting off course if it focuses too heavily on short-term trends designed to boost activity or market attention.
“Ethereum needs to do more to meet its own stated goals,” he wrote, cautioning against efforts to “win the next meta.” He pointed to examples such as tokenized dollars, political meme coins, or activity engineered primarily to signal economic relevance rather than deliver lasting utility.
In his view, those narratives may generate temporary momentum but do little to advance Ethereum’s deeper purpose.
Returning To The World Computer Vision
Instead, Buterin returned to a long-standing idea that has shaped Ethereum since its earliest days: the concept of the network as a “world computer.”
That vision centers on the blockchain as a neutral, shared platform where applications can run without reliance on centralized intermediaries.
Crucially, he argued, such applications should be capable of operating without fraud, censorship, or third-party control — even if their original developers disappear. He highlighted the “walkaway test” as a key benchmark, meaning systems should continue functioning regardless of who maintains them.
Resilience Over Convenience
Buterin also stressed the importance of resilience. In a truly decentralized system, users should not notice if major infrastructure providers go offline or are compromised. No single entity, he argued, should be able to disrupt access or functionality for the broader network.
He contrasted that ideal with the modern internet, where many everyday tools have become subscription-based services that lock users into centralized platforms. Ethereum, he wrote, represents a rebellion against that model by aiming to restore user autonomy and long-term reliability.
Scaling Without Losing Decentralization
To succeed, Buterin said Ethereum must satisfy two demanding requirements at once: it must be usable on a global scale, and it must remain genuinely decentralized. Achieving one without the other would undermine the network’s purpose, he said.
The challenge extends beyond the base layer of the blockchain. Many applications built on Ethereum rely on centralized infrastructure — such as hosted servers or proprietary interfaces — despite using decentralized protocols.
Addressing that dependency, he suggested, is essential to fulfilling Ethereum’s promise.
From Upgrades To Real-World Use
While acknowledging the challenges, Buterin struck an optimistic tone. He said powerful tools now exist to push Ethereum closer to its ideals, thanks to the technical groundwork laid over the past year.
Rather than outlining a single upgrade or timeline, his message served as a reminder of why recent engineering work matters at all: to position Ethereum as durable infrastructure for finance, identity, governance, and other foundational internet services.
Whether Ethereum can meet those ambitions will become clearer as the network’s next phase shifts from upgrades to real-world use, testing how well its ideals hold up under scale.
