Vitalik, Ethereum Foundation back permissionless DeFi… “Differentiated from centralized alternatives”

Vitalik Buterin and the Ethereum Foundation (EF) have reaffirmed their support for permissionless decentralized finance (DeFi).

According to Cryptopolitan on the 24th (local time), Buterin stressed that DeFi is one of the core values of the Ethereum network. He said, “Finance is not everything Ethereum is about, but it is an important domain,” adding that “today’s DeFi is providing the world’s best opportunities for saving, risk management, and asset building to people around the globe in a permissionless way.”

Buterin argued that the goal should not be limited to making better stablecoins, but to redesign the fundamental structure of financial problems. He emphasized the need to revive the early DeFi spirit that once introduced new paradigms such as automated market makers (AMMs).

The direction of DeFi the Ethereum Foundation intends to support has also been clarified. He explained that the foundation is not indiscriminately backing all on-chain finance, but is aiming for “permissionless, open-source, privacy- and security-centric global finance.” His view is that the core is a structure that grants individuals as much control over assets as possible while minimizing centralized bottlenecks and trust-based intermediaries.

Buterin also presented as a key criterion whether a protocol can continue operating even if a specific team disappears. He said, “Because Ethereum is a permissionless protocol, projects that are unsafe or embed unnecessary centralized trust can also be deployed,” adding that security and user sovereignty must be treated as top priorities.

The Ethereum Foundation, in a blog post on the 23rd titled “The Ethereum Foundation’s Commitment to DeFi,” also formalized the establishment of a dedicated DeFi organization, support for protocol development, and security improvements.

In a separate post, Buterin said, “Our role is to strengthen an open-source, permissionless, trust-minimized, security-centric ecosystem,” underscoring differentiation from traditional finance or permissioned models.

Meanwhile, according to on-chain data analytics firm Lookonchain, Buterin sold 1,869 ETH over the past 48 hours to secure about $3.67 million. Last month, he also sold 211.84 ETH, converted it into 500,000 USDC, and delivered it to the open-source health project platform Kanro. Buterin mentioned that personal sales could become more frequent as the Ethereum Foundation shifts to a tightening stance.