Vitalik Says Blockchain Is a Tool, Not the Goal, at ETH Taipei
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has long framed the network as infrastructure for censorship resistance, open-source collaboration, privacy and security. Speaking after years in which NFT and DeFi booms encouraged projects to treat putting assets and applications onchain as an end in itself, he argued that blockchain should be judged by the values and practical outcomes it enables. The message carries weight as Ethereum reassesses its long-term technical direction beyond speculative market cycles.
At ETH Taipei 2026, Buterin said the industry should stop equating onchain deployment with inherent value and refocus on durable technical goals rather than short-term wealth creation. He also outlined a broader Ethereum vision in which AI could increase developers’ ambitions tenfold, helping them build systems previously constrained by complexity and limited engineering capacity. His remarks linked that expanded development scope to Ethereum’s core priorities, including openness, privacy, security and resistance to censorship.
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2 original reportsThe Backstory
The history behind this eventVitalik Buterin Says Ethereum Should Serve as a Decentralized Digital Bulletin Board
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin argues that the network's central public value lies not in putting every problem onchain, but in serving as a decentralized digital bulletin board. In that role, it would allow different crypto systems to store, verify and share data over the long term, providing a reliable form of “shared memory” that does not depend on any single institution.
His latest proposal focuses on scaling technologies such as PeerDAS, which uses distributed data-availability sampling to increase network capacity and reduce the burden on each node to download complete datasets. Buterin also urged developers to choose onchain use cases carefully. The available reports did not specify a publication date, the scale of any capacity increase or any investment amount.
Vitalik Buterin Urges Ethereum to Develop ‘Sanctuary Technology’ to Protect Digital Autonomy
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin argues that blockchain should not replicate the centralized model through which Google and Apple control platforms and data. Instead, it should create digital spaces with no single owner. His concept of “sanctuary technology” centers on privacy, censorship resistance and self-governance, allowing individuals to retain digital autonomy in the face of AI and large institutions.
Buterin has recently gone further by positioning Ethereum as a digital sanctuary for humanity. He advocates privacy protections, censorship-resistant mechanisms and “de-totalization” to distribute power across the system and prevent outside forces from gaining absolute control. The proposals remain a direction for technological development, with no formal launch date, investment amount or timetable for a standalone product announced.
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