Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin recently expressed that he doesn’t want the platform to stop advancing with revolutionary concepts and groundbreaking solutions to age-old issues. His aspirations for the future of cryptocurrency became clear during his interview with David Hoffman at the Permissionless conference in Austin, Texas.
Buterin acknowledged the existing novelties in the crypto industry, such as Decentralized Finance (DeFi), Non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and cryptocurrency payments, which, though familiar, signify a step towards progress. However, his excitement primarily revolves around decentralized social concepts, mentioning his interest in a Twitter-like protocol called Farcaster which is currently in the alpha testing stage on the OP mainnet.
Farcaster, in conjunction with Lens, developed by Aavefounder Stani Kulechov and running on the Polygon’s proof-of-stake chain, aims to provide decentralized platforms that compete with established, centralized social media giants. Buterin is firmly backing this initiative saying, “Let’s see how far we can push things in that direction”. He further adds, “The longer-term future here…can really plug into all of the other stuff that we’ve been doing as a space”.
One of the goals in the crypto-space that Buterin mentioned is developing Sybil-resistance, which ensures genuine engagement on these platforms, excluding possibilities of manipulation, such as multiple accounts controlled by a single entity. He believes that crypto-based solutions could offer a more decentralized, privacy-preserving, and secure environment for users in comparison to the current Web2 landscape.
Cryptocurrency tools that cater to these objectives have been cited, including Ethereum Name Service (ENS), various proof-of-humanity ideas, Proof of Attendance Protocol (POAP), or the forthcoming iterations utilizing zero-knowledge technology. He also mentions Gitcoin Passport as a vital piece in this undertaking. These innovations aim to build an openly accessible, independent tech stack that compete with mammoth corporations without resorting to closed, centralized systems.
Buterin acknowledges that the transition to this decentralized Web3 model would be gradual. Initially, users might rely on familiar platforms like Gmail to manage their Ethereum addresses using account abstraction. However, as they become ready to explore more cryptonative solutions, they can progressively take ownership.
He concludes, “Give people the opportunity to slide down the decentralization ladder and then at the end of it, really properly be in this totally independent stack that actually works together, all the different pieces inside it.” As we peer into the future of cryptocurrency, Buterin’s insights provide a promising glimpse of what could lie ahead.
