Vitalik warns: Pseudo-decentralization may destroy Ethereum

At the EthCC conference held in Paris, France, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin issued a profound warning: If decentralization remains at the slogan level rather than actual technical and structural practice, Ethereum will face a survival crisis. He pointed out that too many projects in the current blockchain ecosystem are packaged as "decentralization", but their actual structure is highly dependent on centralized components, covering up systemic fragility.

Vitalik proposed three core tests to assess the degree of decentralization:

The first is the "exit test": If the project development team suddenly disbands, are the user's assets still safe and operable? This standard is related to the true degree of decentralization of the project, especially for those systems that rely on the daily maintenance of the project party.

The second is the "internal attack test": When some participants in the system (such as developers, multi-signature holders, governance members, etc.) do evil, are there technical and governance mechanisms that can automatically defend? This involves the ability to resist the abuse of the protocol, which is the key to measuring security.

The third is the "trusted computing foundation test": how much code and external systems do users need to trust to protect their assets from being infringed? Buterin pointed out that a large number of code dependencies are often the source of hidden dangers, and efforts should be made to minimize this foundation.

He bluntly stated that a large number of DeFi projects and Layer2 networks still rely on centralized gateways or have "tamperable backdoors", and applications that claim to have privacy protection also frequently expose user transaction history due to binding emails, mobile phone numbers or centralized logins.

Vitalik emphasized that "default privacy" should be an important cornerstone of the Ethereum ecosystem, not an additional function. He called on developers to incorporate the concepts of anti-censorship, anti-tampering and user self-management from the beginning when designing the system. The code should be less and more reliable, the front end should have decentralized hosting capabilities, and users should also have a convenient way to verify whether the interface they use truly reflects the logic on the chain.

On the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the launch of the Ethereum mainnet, Buterin's speech is not only a review, but also an urgent reminder. He said that if Ethereum cannot truly implement its promise of decentralization in terms of technology, governance and user experience, it may follow the same path as the short-lived technology systems such as MySpace and Nokia. Faced with increasingly complex real-world scenarios and increasingly fierce blockchain competition, decentralization can no longer be just a narrative, but must become the bottom line for Ethereum's survival.