Buterin Flags Institutional Threat to Ethereum Values

At the Devconnect conference, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin sounded the alarm over growing institutional investors’ influence that could fundamentally undermine Ethereum values. He highlighted the network’s defining principles—decentralization, permissionless access and censorship resistance—and warned that institutional investors might push changes prompting core developers to abandon the project and price out ordinary node operators. To protect Ethereum values, Buterin proposed reinforcing protocols that remain globally accessible, permissionless and censorship-resistant. He urged the community to actively participate in governance, run nodes and build decentralized applications serving diverse users. While institutional investors bring capital and legitimacy, Buterin stressed that their involvement must not come at the expense of Ethereum’s founding ideals. Balancing investment with principle, the community must stay vigilant to preserve Ethereum values and guard against centralization.