Vitalik Buterin Warns: Crypto Doesn’t Need to be Like OpenAI

At the ETHCC 2025 conference, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin delivered a sobering yet visionary address, urging the crypto space to pause and reflect on what it’s building—and why.

In a talk that veered more philosophical than technical, Buterin emphasized that decentralization isn’t just a branding slogan—it’s a foundational value that empowers users with freedom.

Crypto Industry is at an Inflection Point: Vitalik Buterin

Vitalik Buterin emphasized that the crypto industry is at an inflection point.

“Growing the crypto space is not a clear good. The clear goal is to build the right kind of thing. We need a philosophical shift,” Buterin stated.

He highlighted several pressing concerns in the ecosystem: Layer 2s with instant upgrade “backdoors,” decentralized exchanges with questionable mechanics, and dapp frontends that are vulnerable to server-side compromises. As a practical solution, he advocated for immutable frontend hosting via static HTML on IPFS.

Buterin also warned against superficial fixes in privacy and governance. From governance models that auction off votes to identity systems where zero-knowledge proofs fail to protect users under coercion, he argued for a more holistic and rigorous approach.

“Think of privacy as a feature to add, instead of thinking it as a bug to reduce,” he said.

A key litmus test, he noted, is resilience: “If a company disappears, do your users still have their assets?”

Buterin also reflected on broader trends in tech, drawing a comparison to Android. While Android brought Linux to the masses, he questioned whether it truly empowered users.

“The default Android phone has a bunch of spyware… It’s an ecosystem that is very mixed,” he noted.

However, he said that crypto should not follow that same path—something that just goes up in value and then fades.

Buterin stressed that open source, censorship resistance, and user freedom should not be optional.

“We don’t need to be like OpenAI,” Buterin remarked.

The BeInCrypto team is present at the ETHCC event and witnessed firsthand Buterin’s call for crypto builders to return to first principles—freedom, resilience, and meaningful decentralization.

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