Vitalik: DeFi remains a core part of Ethereum’s value
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin said DeFi remains a core component of Ethereum’s value. The Ethereum Foundation (EF) will prioritize supporting permissionless, open-source, privacy-preserving and security-first global financial infrastructure. EF’s planned focus areas include improving security via audits, standards and wallet-side protections; introducing AI-assisted formal verification and user-agent defenses; strengthening oracle security and decentralization; advancing privacy payments and private-collateralized CDP use cases; and improving open-source licensing and forkability. The EF emphasized selective support — it will not back every on-chain finance project, only collaborators that reduce centralized trust and enhance user asset control and risk management. The announcement signals continued institutional and developer commitment to DeFi on Ethereum and outlines operational priorities that may affect protocol development, tooling, audits and privacy-focused products.
Bullish
Vitalik’s statement and the Ethereum Foundation’s articulated priorities are positive for Ethereum and DeFi markets. Clear institutional support for security, privacy, oracle robustness and formal verification reduces execution risk for DeFi projects, which can increase developer confidence and capital inflows. Emphasizing selective support for projects that lower centralized trust and improve user asset control signals higher-quality ecosystem growth rather than indiscriminate expansion, which tends to strengthen long-term fundamentals. In the short term, the announcement may boost sentiment around ETH and DeFi tokens tied to privacy, oracles, wallet security and formal-verification tooling. It could also spur demand for projects aligning with EF priorities, raising trading volume and price volatility in those tokens. In the long term, greater emphasis on audits, standards and privacy could lower systemic risks and improve on-chain capital allocation, supporting sustained bullish fundamentals. Comparable past events: ecosystem-focused roadmaps and foundation endorsements (e.g., protocol grants, major security pushes) have historically correlated with positive price reactions and increased developer activity. However, effects are muted if broader macro conditions are negative or if execution lags; thus the impact is constructive but not guaranteed.