Vitalik Buterin Warns of ’Corposlop’ — Corporate Threat to Crypto Sovereignty

Ethereum co‑founder Vitalik Buterin warned of a rising trend he calls “corposlop”: polished, corporate-built products and closed ecosystems that prioritise profit, attention capture and data extraction over user sovereignty. He said corposlop homogenises the web, replaces experimental innovation with slick, profit-driven apps, and erodes cryptographic and mental privacy. Buterin broadened the concept of sovereignty beyond private-key control to include privacy-preserving designs, local-first apps, user-controlled social feeds, conservative financial tools (avoiding high leverage), open/privacy-focused AI, opinionated companies and mission-driven DAOs. He noted Bitcoin maximalists unintentionally preserved some sovereignty by rejecting many tokenised apps, while urging builders not to cede ground to corporate or regulatory centralisation. The remarks prompted debate across the crypto community about defending decentralisation, privacy and user interests — themes traders should watch for potential shifts in investor sentiment, product adoption and regulatory responses.