Vitalik Buterin Says Ethereum Should Be Bolder, Here’s Why

Ethereum’s co-founder Vitalik Buterin has called for “bolder and more open‑minded” experimentation at Ethereum’s application layer while keeping the core principles untouched.

Before getting into his deep dive, Buterin clarifies that this open mindset shouldn’t leave people insecure about the network’s security protocols. Ethereum’s co-founder ties back to his previous concerns regarding Ethereum’s role beyond DeFi, reminding users once again what the project ethos is about: technological and financial tools to give people more freedom.

We should not compromise on core properties: censorship resistance, open source, privacy, security (CROPS). We should not have “open mindedness” of the type that leaves people with no confidence of what security properties the L1 will have  one year from now

Buterin first tackles what he calls the “technological direction” of the project. He believes that, regarding the layer of applications and Ethereum’s interface to the world, “should be willing to radically rethink various concepts and step outside our comfort zone”.

The first aspect to revisit should be the application stack, “because the entire stack so far has not been built around privacy”, he claims. Ethereum’s base layer is finally becoming a robust, efficient settlement engine, but the layers on top, such as L2s, wallets, DeFi, oracles and even future AI agents, are often re‑centralizing the very risks Ethereum was built to remove. Buterin calls to build radically new AI‑native, privacy‑first apps, but do it in a way that cannot override the chain’s cryptographic guarantees.

For Buterin, Milady represents an environment where attention, aesthetics and in‑group memes matter more than building tools that help people under capital controls, censorship, or real economic stress. By invoking Milady, he’s asking: are we going to keep optimizing Ethereum for this kind of self‑referential, nihilistic fun, or are we finally going to ship “sanctuary tech” that someone in a crisis would actually rely on?. He says:

Yes, it’s a silly meme. Yes, I find the political takes of some milady partisans cringe and sometimes outright bootlickerish (though other milady partisans are quite the opposite). But the core underlying subtext, the message behind the message, is: rip off the suit and tie. If you have your suit and tie on, be willing to grab the nearest wine glass and spill it all over your suit and tie, so you have no choice but to rip it off and reclaim your body’s full flexibility and freedom.

At the end of his reflection, Vitalik Buterin makes it very clear. Recognizing the “solid position” the project now has, and all the “amazing” things Ethereum has achieved, the goal for it should no longer be searching for “the next step to make it one step better”, but to ask “what are the most valuable things to build, knowing what we know now?”.

Ethereum can only grow back stronger, Buterin says, if builders treat its base layer as untouchable public infrastructure and push all the wild experimentation into AI‑native, privacy‑first apps and L2s that still inherit its full trustless guarantees.

Cover image from ChatGPT, ETHUSD chart from Tradingview