decentralization

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin elaborated on his latest views regarding the integration of Ethereum and artificial intelligence. He pointed out that the ideal future of artificial intelligence should achieve two core goals: first, to enhance human freedom and empowerment, avoiding the replacement of humans by AI or entrapment in insurmountable power structures; second, to ensure system security, mitigating existential risks posed by superintelligence and chaotic scenarios resulting from imbalances in offense and defense.Around this vision, he proposed four key short-term building directions and emphasized that Ethereum will play an important role in them:Build technological tools that support trustless and private interactions, including local large language models, zero-knowledge proof-based API payments, cryptography-driven privacy enhancement solutions, and client-side verification mechanisms for various proofs and certifications.Establish Ethereum as the economic coordination layer for AI-related interactions, supporting scenarios such as API calls, employment and collaboration between autonomous robots, margin mechanisms, and potential future on-chain dispute resolution systems and AI reputation frameworks.Promote the realization of the cypherpunk vision of "self-verification," enabling users to interact directly with Ethereum applications through local models, autonomously generate and verify transactions, complete smart contract audits, and independently assess the trust models of decentralized applications.Leverage artificial intelligence to expand the scale of human judgment and collaboration, activating complex mechanisms such as prediction markets, decentralized governance, and quadratic voting, to build a more efficient and inclusive market and governance ecosystem.Vitalik concluded that the aforementioned directions reflect the idea of achieving decentralized collaboration and system resilience through technology, and combined with AI and cryptographic techniques, they are expected to push social and economic designs, previously limited by human cognitive and coordination capabilities, towards reality.

Vitalik Buterin posted on the X platform that in the next five years, the Ethereum Foundation (EF) will enter a period of "moderate tightening" to achieve two main goals: first, to deliver a more aggressive technical roadmap that ensures Ethereum continues to be a high-performance, scalable "world computer" without sacrificing robustness, sustainability, and decentralization; second, to enhance the long-term sustainability of the Ethereum Foundation itself, safeguarding Ethereum's core mission, including the foundational blockchain layer and users' ability to use the network under the premises of security, privacy, and self-sovereignty.Vitalik pointed out that as part of the tightening plan, he will personally take on some work that might have been handled by the Foundation's "special projects," focusing on supporting an open, verifiable, end-to-end hardware and software technology stack to protect personal lives and public environments. This technological vision encompasses finance, communication, governance, blockchain, operating systems, secure hardware, and biotechnology (personal and public health), emphasizing privacy protection, decentralization, and a locally prioritized software architecture.To this end, Vitalik has extracted 16,384 ETH and plans to gradually invest in the aforementioned goals over the coming years while exploring safer decentralized staking solutions to use staking rewards long-term to support related missions. He emphasized that Ethereum itself is an indispensable part of the "full-stack openness and verifiability" vision.The Ethereum Foundation will continue to focus on core Ethereum development, but the priority is not "Ethereum everywhere," but rather "Ethereum for people who need it," serving self-sovereignty, security, and privacy, rather than catering to centralized corporate demands. Vitalik stated that in an increasingly "might makes right" world, this path offers a necessary alternative—building an uncontrollable collaborative infrastructure through truly open, verifiable, and user-serving technology.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin recently proposed a "native DVT (Distributed Validator Technology)" solution at the Ethereum Research forum, suggesting that DVT be directly integrated into the Ethereum staking protocol layer to enhance network security while promoting decentralization at the validator level.According to the proposal, validators can register multiple independent keys and operate collectively in the form of "grouped validators"; only when a set threshold number of key signatures is reached will the block proposal or witness be considered valid. This mechanism can significantly reduce the risk of single points of failure or validators going offline due to node breaches, while still maintaining existing slashing protections under reasonable threshold settings.Vitalik pointed out that, unlike current DVT solutions that rely on external coordination layers and complex deployments, native DVT will be directly embedded into the protocol itself. Validators holding multiple minimum staking thresholds (32 ETH) can set up to 16 keys and specify a signature threshold, effectively allowing multiple standard nodes to collectively form a single validator identity. He noted that the additional performance overhead of this design is minimal, only adding one extra delay for block production without affecting witness delays, and is compatible with any signature scheme, helping to reduce reliance on long-term potentially risky cryptographic assumptions.On the decentralization front, Vitalik believes that native DVT will enable individuals and institutions to participate in staking more easily in a "self-custodial, fault-tolerant" manner, rather than relying on large staking service providers, thereby improving the decentralization metrics of the Ethereum validator set (such as the Nakamoto coefficient). The proposal is still in the early discussion stage and will require extensive evaluation and consensus from the Ethereum community moving forward.

Vitalik Buterin stated that he plans to fully return to decentralized social networks in 2026, believing that if we want to build a better society, we must have better large-scale communication tools. These tools should help people filter high-quality information and opinions, find consensus, and serve the long-term interests of users rather than maximizing short-term interactions and emotional conflicts.Vitalik pointed out that there is no "one-size-fits-all" solution to the above problems, but enhancing competition is an important starting point, and decentralization is the key path to achieving competition: by sharing a data layer that allows anyone to build different clients on top of it. He revealed that since the beginning of this year, he has started using decentralized social tools for reading and posting, with all content synchronized across platforms like X, Lens, Farcaster, and Bluesky through Firefly.He also criticized some crypto social projects for deviating from their original intentions, overly viewing "token issuance" as innovation, and attempting to create price bubbles around individuals to incentivize creators. However, practice shows that such models often reward existing social capital rather than content quality, and the lifecycle of tokens is short. Vitalik emphasized that money and social interaction are not inherently in conflict; the key is whether they truly serve the content itself, such as through subscription-based support models rather than speculative asset designs.In his view, decentralized social should be driven by teams that genuinely care about the "essence of social interaction." Vitalik acknowledged the Aave team's previous long-term maintenance of Lens and expressed anticipation for the direction of the new team, believing they are more focused on solving real social problems. He stated that in the coming year, he will speak more on decentralized social platforms and encourage more users to participate in ecosystems like Lens and Farcaster, breaking free from the information adversarial environment of a single platform and exploring new forms of interaction.

Vitalik Buterin posted on social media that 2026 will be a key year for Ethereum to regain lost ground in self-sovereignty and trustlessness. The plans include simplifying node operation through ZK-EVM and BAL technology, launching Helios to verify RPC data, implementing ORAM and PIR technology to protect user privacy, developing social recovery wallets and time-lock features to enhance fund security, and improving on-chain UI and IPFS applications. Buterin emphasized that Ethereum will correct the compromises made in the past decade regarding node operation, application decentralization, and data privacy, refocusing on core values. Although this will be a long process, it will make the Ethereum ecosystem stronger.

a16z crypto managing partner Chris Dixon stated that cryptocurrency developers need clear rules. Over the past five years, Republicans, Democrats, and the Trump administration have worked closely with members of the cryptocurrency industry to protect decentralization, support developers, and provide fair opportunities for entrepreneurs.Essentially, the Clarity Act (the Cryptocurrency Market Structure Act) is legislation aimed at achieving this goal. It is not perfect and will require some modifications before it officially becomes law. However, if we want the U.S. to maintain its best position globally in building the future of cryptocurrency, now is the best time to advance the Clarity Act.

Huobi HTX has released a statement regarding the unilateral asset transfer by the Flow (FLOW) project team.Huobi HTX stated that on December 27, 2025, a protocol layer vulnerability in the Flow network led to a large amount of FLOW being illegally minted. After the incident, the platform proactively verified the situation with the project team to confirm whether there were any anomalies, and actively cooperated with risk management and on-chain tracking efforts. At the same time, the risk control and monitoring systems continuously tracked suspicious fund flows and took restrictive measures on identifiable hacker-related assets, making every effort to prevent further inflow into the market and protect the overall interests of token holders.However, the Flow project team unilaterally initiated the "Isolated Recovery" plan without fully communicating with the exchange and users, forcibly transferring FLOW assets from centralized exchange addresses, including Huobi HTX, through protocol layer permissions, and plans to destroy them on January 30, 2026.Huobi HTX emphasizes that the forcibly transferred and intended-to-be-destroyed assets include a large amount of FLOW obtained by ordinary users through legitimate market transactions. The actions of the Flow project team seriously deviate from the principles of decentralization and clear property rights, setting a bad precedent for the security boundaries of industry assets, and severely damaging the legitimate asset rights and interests of the platform and its users. Huobi HTX calls on the Flow project team to adhere to the spirit of decentralization, respect the legitimate rights and interests of users and exchanges, clearly distinguish between illegal minting and legal holdings, publish a complete and auditable post-event analysis, and resolve outstanding issues through active negotiation rather than unilateral technical means.

Zhao Changpeng CZ posted on platform X, stating that complaining about others not being decentralized is actually a manifestation of one's own centralized thinking. Complaining about others mostly represents a desire to control or change them. Decentralization does not mean everyone (and you) is the same; decentralization means everyone has their own choices. If others choose to band together (centralization), that is also their freedom in a decentralized world. In a truly decentralized mindset, one does not complain about others not being decentralized enough.

Recently, NeuroMesh, focused on embodied intelligence, announced the completion of a $5 million strategic financing round, with a post-investment valuation of $50 million. This round of financing was jointly invested by Alpha Capital and Coinvestor Ventures.NeuroMesh is dedicated to providing edge intelligence solutions for robots and smart devices. Through its device-side intelligent stack, it enables robots to achieve real-time perception, planning, and execution without relying on the cloud. Meanwhile, the experiences gained by machines during learning will be synchronized to a decentralized "collective brain," achieving continuous evolution and shared learning through network effects.This model allows the learning outcomes among agents to be verifiable and accumulative, driving the entire network to become increasingly intelligent. NeuroMesh's goal is to build a truly native, verifiable, and shared autonomous intelligent world, making decentralized machine intelligence the infrastructure for the next generation of human-machine collaboration.It is reported that the funds from this round will be used to accelerate technology research and development, expand the team size, and further explore the implementation of applications in industrial automation, service robots, and other scenarios.

According to The Block, a16z Crypto general partner Ali Yahya stated in a blog post released on Tuesday that by 2026, privacy will become the most important competitive differentiator for blockchain networks.Privacy is a key missing feature that hinders the global financial sector's full transition to on-chain development, and it is a feature that most blockchains still lack. Although the throughput and transaction fees of various networks have become more consistent, privacy alone is now enough to serve as a powerful factor in distinguishing different chains and locking in users.The emphasis on privacy is not limited to the blockchain itself. Shane Mac, co-founder and CEO of XMTP Labs, wrote in a16z Crypto's blog post that as concerns about quantum computing grow, the next phase of secure communication will require a combination of decentralization and cryptographic technology.Mac called for the establishment of an open protocol without a single controlling entity, where users fully own their messages and identities. a16z Crypto also emphasized the necessity of "confidentiality as a service," positioning privacy as core infrastructure.Adeniyi Abiodun from Mysten Labs pointed out that institutions need to ensure encrypted access to sensitive data. The lack of native data access control will force enterprises to adopt centralized systems that limit interoperability, while programmable access rules can unlock on-chain systems.Security is also a core issue. a16z Crypto cryptographic engineer Daejun Park stated that the attack incidents in the DeFi space in 2025 exposed the limitations of the current audit-driven security model, and the industry needs to shift from "code is law" to "regulation is law."

Ethereum founder Vitalik reiterated the purpose of Ethereum, stating, "The creation of Ethereum is not to make finance more efficient or applications more convenient, but to give people freedom." This is an important and controversial statement from the "Unpermissioned Manifesto" that deserves our re-examination and a better understanding of its meaning. Words like "efficient" and "convenient" imply improving the average situation in an already quite good context. Efficiency refers to allowing the world's best engineers to pour their souls into reducing latency from 473 milliseconds to 368 milliseconds, or increasing the yield from 4.5% APY to 5.3% APY.Convenience means enabling people to register in 20 seconds instead of 1 minute with just one click instead of three. These things may be well done. But we must understand that we can never outplay the corporate players in Silicon Valley in this game.Therefore, the main underlying game that Ethereum must play must be a different game. This game is resilience. Resilience is not about 4.5% APY versus 5.3% APY, but about minimizing your risk of suffering -100% APY. Resilience means that if you become politically unpopular and get banned, or your application developers go bankrupt or disappear, or Cloudflare goes down, or a cyberwar breaks out, your 2000 milliseconds of latency still remains at 2000 milliseconds. Resilience is that anyone, anywhere in the world can access the network and become a top-tier participant.Resilience is sovereignty, in the sense of "digital sovereignty" or "food sovereignty"—actively reducing vulnerability to external dependencies that can be arbitrarily stripped away at any time. This is the game that Ethereum is suited to win. Ethereum must first and foremost be a decentralized, permissionless, and resilient block space—then make it rich.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin published an article titled "Balance of Power," exploring the concepts of power and balance. Vitalik believes that more projects should clearly consider not only the "business model" (i.e., how to raise resources to support their work) but also the "decentralization model" (i.e., how to avoid the concentration of power within themselves and the risks associated with having such power).In some cases, decentralization is easy: relatively few people care about dominance. English, or more precisely, open protocols like TCP, IP, and HTTP. In other cases, decentralization is difficult to achieve because use cases in certain situations require conscious action. How to gain the advantages of flexibility without bearing its downsides will remain an important challenge for a long time to come.

According to market news, the main reason for the drop in AAVE prices this morning is due to large holders selling off. The second-largest whale address holding AAVE sold 230,000 AAVE (approximately $38 million), causing a temporary decline in AAVE prices.This whale exchanged all of its AAVE for 227.8 WBTC and 5,869.4 stETH between 5:40 AM and 7:05 AM. It is reported that this batch of AAVE was purchased from late last year to early this year, with an average cost of about $223.4. This time, it was liquidated at an average price of about $165, with expected losses reaching $13.45 million.Additionally, according to HyperInsight monitoring, affected by the temporary drop in AAVE this morning, the main long whale on Hyperliquid (0x074) has seen its unrealized losses expand to 176% today, with an average price of $189 and a position size of about $1.2 million. This long position was opened on November 16.This morning, it was reported that the Aave community will open a vote on the "Transfer of Brand Asset Control to Token Holders" ARFC proposal on Snapshot tomorrow at 10:40 AM, with voting lasting until December 26. Some analyses indicate that this proposal is interpreted by the market as a "decentralized measure to transfer brand assets to DAO management," which, while raising concerns, also partially alleviates future elasticity expectations related to brand assets, leading to a short-term repricing in the market.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin responded on the X platform to U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders' proposal to pause the construction of large AI data centers.Vitalik believes that the truly effective approach should be to prepare the capability to "cut 90-99% of computing power" at critical moments in the future, rather than just slowing down immediately; he also supports distinguishing between "super-large clusters" and consumer-grade AI hardware, and advocates for decentralized development.

According to Caixin, the China Internet Finance Association disclosed that as of November 30, 2025, a total of 217 supply chain information service institutions have registered basic information with the association. From the banking sector, it is learned that the outstanding scale of accounts receivable certificates issued by relevant institutions is close to 3 trillion yuan. For banks and other financial institutions, how to explore "de-core" financing remains to be breakthrough."De-core" refers to financial institutions reducing their excessive reliance on the credit of core enterprises, using digital technologies such as big data and blockchain, and taking real data such as transaction records, orders, logistics, and cash flows of enterprises as the basis for credit assessment, to provide financing services for small and medium-sized enterprises in the chain.

Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko stated at the Solana Breakpoint conference, "What I love most is that decentralization is not about the absence of leaders, but rather the rich emergence of leaders. Over the past five years, so many people have stepped up—people from the foundation, from Labs, as well as community members, builders of applications and protocols who are not part of these initial organizations—they have truly taken on leadership roles for the entire network.As it has developed to this point, I don't even have commit access on GitHub anymore, and it only took me two minutes to speak on stage. My goal is to sit in the audience—I feel that this means seeing the entire network truly mature and have its own life. I am very proud of this."