Vitalik Buterin warns: Ethereum could lose his place as a leader

When Vitalik Buterin speaks, the blockchain planet reaches the ear. This time, he did not release a new protocol or announced a technological revolution. No, what he brandished at the ETHCC 2025 is an existential doubt. A red alert. The web3, supposed to free us from the channels of centralized institutions, would be reproducing their flaws. And Ethereum, the flagship of the crypto world, could well become an empty shell, if its founding principles are forgotten.

Ethereum and illusion of freedom: three tests to distinguish the true from the false

In a packed room of theEthereum Community Conference in CannesVitalik Buterin, faithful to his stripped style, has planted an without eyeshadow: The web3 is at a tipping point. It is no longer enough to wave the word “decentralization” as a standard to claim it. You have to prove your resilience.

Here are the Three tests that any crypto project should pass:

• Does the withdrawal test: if the team disappears, does the application still work?
• The internal attack test: what can a malicious collaborator do?
• The basis of confidence: how many lines of code can we really believe in speech?

These criteria are not theoretical. They are aimed at flush out the flaws in L2 which can be updated in one clickor in app interfaces which give an illusion of control to the user while keeping the keys of the house.

If we lose that, Ethereum will just become a generation phenomenon, which will disappear like so many others.

Vitalik Buterin

The crypto become mainstream … at the risk of getting lost?

Vitalik Buterin was not satisfied with a technical audit. He also delivered A historical reading of the moment. For him, The crypto world has left the craft era. No more “geeks in a garage”. Make way for giants and heads of state.

He even quotes Donald Trumprecently converted to the Crypto cause. For Vitalik, this is a sign that The underground is dead. And if the crypto space becomes a market place managed by the same logics as traditional financewhat remains of the initial dream?

He warns: Android democratized Linux, but at the cost of an ecosystem full of spy software.

The default Android phone is filled with spy software … A very mixed ecosystem.

Vitalik Buterin

Should we accept that the blockchain becomes a consistent copy of this model, without the promise of emancipation?

Governance, privacy and figures: Vitalik wants a useful and trustworthy Ethereum

But everything is not black. For Buterin, Solutions exist. He advocates native confidentiality: more “privacy” optional, Each leak is a bug. The front-ends must be static, hosted via IPFS, resistant to attacks.

He also hits Dao to the purchase votes, these false democracies Disguised as decentralized governance. And ask this simple question: ” What you build makes your users more free? »»

Some figures and realities:

• 60 % of L2 use Keys Upgrade activated without the user;
• More than 70 % of DAPPS interfaces are vulnerable to front-end attacks;
• RPCs (Remote Procedure Calls) often flee data to centralized servers;
• In 1 in 3 DAOs, a handful of addresses holds more than 80 % of the voting rights;
• 9 out of 10 projects integrating the ZK Proof fail to hide the complete history of transactions.

This is why Vitalik advocates A change in technical and ethical course.

Ethereum is advancing, carried by the challenges of confidentiality, the drop in gas costs and more equitable governance. On all fronts, the 31 -year -old genius plays the engineer and the philosopher. But during this time, on the other side of the river, Charles Hoskinson de Cardano does not hesitate: he describes Ethereum as a dictatorship controlled by Vitalik Buterin, denouncing hypocrisy on decentralization. The Battle of visions is just beginning.