Ethereum (ETH) co-founder Vitalik Buterin continues to attract attention with his statements 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 necessary for the network to be self-sufficient in the long term, meaning it could survive without core developers.
According to Buterin, the idea is simple: “Ethereum should continue to function even if all of its developers disappeared one day.”
“Ethereum must pass the abandonment test. Ethereum must reach a point where it can become permanent, even if everyone else leaves.”
Buterin compared Ethereum to buying a hammer. According to him, when you buy a hammer, it’s yours. Whether the company exists or not, the hammer still works. At this point, Buterin wants Ethereum to work the same way.
In this context, Buterin outlined seven specific technical requirements that would ensure the permanence of the ETH blockchain, particularly emphasizing preventive quantum resilience as a priority for century-long security.
Buterin emphasized that quantum resistance should not be postponed for the sake of efficiency, stating that the protocol should inspire confidence in its cryptographic security for 100 years.
“We shouldn’t fall into the trap of delaying quantum resistance until the very last moment to gain more efficiency for a while. Individual users have that right, but the protocol shouldn’t. Being able to say, ‘The Ethereum protocol, as it is today, is cryptographically secure for a hundred years,’ is something we should strive to achieve as soon as possible and proudly insist upon.”
Besides quantum resilience, other technical requirements include “scalability based on ZK-EVMs 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 production mechanism.”
*This is not investment advice.
