Balancing Idealism and Reality: Vitalik's Cryptocurrency Vision vs. Top 10 Contradictions in Ethereum

Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin elaborates on his vision for Ethereum and the cryptocurrency space, as well as the top ten contradictions he faces in practice.

This article is translated, for any ambiguity, please refer to the original link: https://twitter.com/VitalikButerin/status/1526378787855736832

Below is the full text:

Advertisement - Please scroll down for more content

There are still some things that contradict my thoughts and values, and I continue to ponder on them, but I still feel they have not been completely resolved.

Contradiction One

I strongly hope to see Ethereum become a system more like Bitcoin, emphasizing long-term stability, including culturally, but the contradiction lies in the fact that achieving this goal requires a significant amount of actively coordinating short-term changes.

Contradiction Two

I tend to build a stable system that reduces individual reliance and can stand the test of time, but this contradicts my view of the current players on Ethereum and their role in helping the world progress.

Contradiction Three

I hope to see Ethereum become an L1 public chain that can survive in extremely extreme situations, but the contradiction lies in the realization that many key applications on Ethereum rely on security assumptions that are even more fragile than what we would consider acceptable in Ethereum protocol design.

Contradiction Four

There is a contradiction between my love for decentralization and democracy and the fact that in specific policy issues, I mostly, though far from all, agree more with elite intellectuals than the "public."

Contradiction Five

I hope to see more countries adopting radical policy experiments like crypto countries, but the contradiction lies in the fact that governments are most likely to become more centralized in events like these and are very unfriendly to internal diversification.

Contradiction Six

I hope to see a more diverse and interesting "culture," but the contradiction lies in the fact that maintaining a culture different from the mainstream often seems to require some kind of madness, artificial barriers (Note: Differentiation from the mainstream), or something I ideologically dislike.

Contradiction Seven

I dislike many of the modern financial "applications" of blockchain, such as $3 million monkeys, but the contradiction lies in the fact that, from my reluctant perspective, these things are an important part of sustaining the encrypted economy, they operate and support all my favorite DAOs and governance experiments.

Contradiction Eight

The contradiction lies in my desire for cryptography to do more than just finance, but the reality is that encrypted financial applications, including payments and sovereignty, are still the most successful application category in the field of cryptography, especially for people in the third world, human rights activists, and marginalized groups.

Contradiction Nine

I hope to simplify L1 public chains as much as possible, but there is a contradiction between this and my desire to simplify the overall ecosystem, as a simple L1 public chain often leads to its complexity being pushed into a stack that users have to accept at a higher level.

Contradiction Ten

I hope to be a coordinator who does not harm the interests of all parties and can be everyone's friend, but my strong stance for good compels me to resist true evil when faced with it.