Vitalik Buterin "If institutions like BlackRock gain influence, Ethereum could go in the wrong direction"

Vitalik Buterin (Vitalik Buterin), co-founder of Ethereum (Ethereum), warned that the more large institutions such as BlackRock hold large amounts of Ethereum, the more the network could deviate from the direction it originally sought.

On the 20th (local time), according to DL News, Buterin pointed out at a Devconnect panel held in Buenos Aires that "if the share of institutions becomes excessively large, Ethereum could flow in the wrong direction." He specifically cited the rapid increase in ETH held by institutions following BlackRock's launch of an Ethereum ETF as a problem.

Buterin's concerns are broadly twofold. First, the community may leave. He said, "The core developers and users who have built Ethereum value decentralization," and "if the structure shifts to be institution-centered, they may lose interest and leave."

Second, the technical direction could be distorted toward institutions. Buterin used reducing block creation time to 150 milliseconds (ms) as an example, explaining, "Such a change would require an ultra-low-latency environment, so nodes could only be operated in financial centers like New York." He pointed out that this could ultimately result in the network becoming concentrated in certain regions and among certain actors.

Buterin emphasized, "The core that Ethereum must maintain is a structure that anyone in the world can access and that can resist censorship," and "these basic values should take precedence over the speed and convenience desired by institutions."