Ethereum (ETH) co-founder Vitalik Buterin continues to garner attention for his comments and posts. Most recently, Buterin outlined the technical goals for a self-sufficient Ethereum.
In a post from his X account, Buterin outlined the technical requirements needed for the network to become self-sufficient in the long term, meaning it can survive without a core developer.
The idea, Buterin says, is simple. “Ethereum should continue to function even if all the developers were gone.”
“Ethereum has to pass the abandonment test. Ethereum has to get to the point where it can persist even if everyone else leaves.”
Buterin likened Ethereum to buying a hammer. According to him, if you buy a hammer, it’s yours. The hammer works whether the company exists or not. For now, Buterin wants Ethereum to work the same way.
In this context, Mr. Buterin outlined seven specific technical requirements to ensure the persistence of the ETH blockchain, particularly highlighting proactive quantum resilience as a century-long security priority.
Buterin stressed that quantum resistance should not be put off for reasons of efficiency, and said the protocol should evoke 100 years of confidence in the security of cryptography.
“We should not fall into the trap of delaying quantum resistance until the last moment in order to gain efficiency for a while. Individual users have that right, but the protocol should not. Being able to say, ‘The current Ethereum protocol is cryptographically secure for 100 years’ is something we should strive to achieve as quickly as possible and claim it with pride.”
In addition to quantum resilience, other technical requirements include “scalability based on ZK-EVM and PeerDAS, a long-term governance system, a fully abstract computational model, a fee structure designed to protect against DoS attacks, a sustainable proof-of-stake (PoS) structure, and a censorship-resistant block generation mechanism.”
*This is not investment advice.
