Vitalik Buterin Reveals True Ethereum (ETH) Philosophy

An interesting discussion about the underutilization of the crypto market and space emerged recently when Georgios Konstantopoulos of Paradigm suggested that even developers in the crypto space are not fully leveraging the potential of blockchain, and suggested that self-service onboarding, user-signed requests and stablecoins could democratize authentication through decentralized platforms.

Vitalik Buterin, the founder of Ethereum (ETH), entered the discussion by emphasizing Ethereum’s founding philosophy. He likened the Ethereum address to the principle of “text as a universal interface,” positioning the ETH address as a universal tool for authorization across the blockchain ecosystem and calling it the philosophy behind the main alternative blockchain.

Unix philosophy: text as universal interface
Ethereum philosophy: eth address as universal interface

Thanks to zkemail, tlsnotary, anon aadhaar, etc, any form of auth can be converted into an eth address, and then plugged into other tools (eg. multisig, DAO authorizations…)

— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) October 27, 2024

In another interaction, Vitalik Buterin also addressed the growing concerns regarding the sale of the altcoin on behalf of the Ethereum Foundation, as the price of ETH lost another 13% this week, wiping out all of the gains made in the previous week.

Vitalik Buterin on Ethereum (ETH) price

The altcoin’s year-to-date gains total only 8.5%, while its biggest counterparts, Bitcoin (BTC) and Solana (SOL), have returned 59.42% and 72.64%, respectively, prompting critics to question the foundation’s approach of regularly selling ETH instead of betting on it.

Comparing Ethereum to the Nobel Prize Foundation, observers urged the Foundation to use staking revenue for operational costs.

Buterin addressed these concerns by explaining that avoiding an official stance during potential hard forks is a key reason for not staking all holdings. However, he noted that Ethereum is exploring alternatives, including grants that allow recipients to stake ETH independently.

Another approach being considered is to distribute authority and resources across multiple organizations to credibly represent Ethereum, thereby reducing the need for centralized decisions.

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