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Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has publicly reversed his position of nearly a decade, signaling a major shift in thinking about blockchain self-sovereignty.
In a recent post on
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Why Vitalik Buterin Rethinks Ethereum’s Self-Verifying Hypothesis
He explained that this statement reflects Advances in cryptography Lessons learned from the failure of real networks.
In 2017, Buterin debated blockchain theorist Ian Gregg on whether blockchain should adhere to a chain state system. Greg argued that the blockchain could record the order of transactions without looking at user balances, smart contract codes or warehouse.
Buterin opposes this approach, warning that users will have to restart the chain registry or fully trust third-party RPC providers. At that time, it was a situation The leaders of Ethereum It is a matter of fact that both are impractical for the average participant.
At the time, he emphasized that Ethereum’s commitment to the state of the chain and the ability to cross-check values. Merkel’s evidence Making trusting the network much safer than trusting a single provider.
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What has changed since then is… Rise of ZK-SNARKsIt is a cryptographic hack that allows users to verify the authenticity of the blockchain without re-executing each transaction.
Buterin compares this development to the discovery of “a pill that cures everything for $15” – a transformative technology that offers security benefits without huge costs.
He argues that the innovation allows Ethereum to reconsider the trade-offs between scalability, verifiability and decentralization that have been accepted in the past.
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The “Mountain Man” Option: Ethereum’s Security Hut for a Decentralized Future
Buterin also highlighted the importance of resilience in the real world.
“Sometimes the P2P network goes down. Sometimes the latency suddenly spikes 20 times. Sometimes the service it relies on stops. Sometimes the miners or staking concentrate the power, while the brokers monitor the applications.” books.
In these scenarios, users must maintain the ability to directly verify and use the chain without “contacting the developers”, ensuring self-sovereignty even when assumptions are broken.
This principle underpins his renewed support for what he calls the “mountain man” option. While full self-verification isn’t meant as a way of everyday life, it serves as a vital fallback option and bargaining chip, a sort of last-ditch security shack for Ethereum.
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As well as Restriction BitTorrent Streaming Platforms to Offer Better Terms for Consumers Mountain Man’s Hut Provides Ethereum Users with Leverage and Security Amidst Technological and Political Uncertainty.
At its heart, Buterin’s rethinking is both technical and philosophical. ZK-SNARKs remove previous barriers to self-verification, while practical experience has shown that the risks of centralization, network failure and censorship are real threats.
By maintaining the Mountain Man option, Ethereum maintains the long-term resilience of the network and the ethos of self-sovereignty.
Buterin’s reversal suggests that the assumptions that guided design decisions are no longer fixed, and maintaining a robust alternative is essential for a decentralized future.
