Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has called for a return to crypto’s foundational ethos: using technology to empower and liberate people, rather than pursuing technical complexity for its own sake. Speaking at the EthCC conference, Buterin urged developers to prioritize human freedom above all else when building blockchain applications .
Buterin drew a direct comparison between the early internet’s promise of an open, free digital space and the current trajectory of Web3. He warned that many Web2 platforms started as freedom champions but evolved into censored “walled gardens,” a path crypto must avoid .
“People working on cryptography need to actively think about the social and moral implications of what they’re building. The first question to ask is: Are you making your users free?”
This emphasis on freedom harks back to the cypherpunk movement that birthed cryptocurrency. Cypherpunks advocated for privacy and individual liberty through encryption, seeing technology as a tool against authoritarian overreach. However, Buterin suggested that crypto’s growing institutional adoption risks diluting this anti-establishment foundation.
The Ethereum creator’s comments come amid industry debates between “suitcoiners” (institutionally-aligned participants) and those preserving crypto’s decentralized, liberty-focused origins. Buterin’s stance clearly aligns with the latter, framing freedom not as a buzzword but as crypto’s essential purpose.
In practical terms, Buterin’s vision means evaluating every blockchain project through a simple lens: does it genuinely enhance user autonomy, or is it just another technically impressive cage? As crypto matures, this focus on human outcomes over technical specs may determine whether it fulfills its revolutionary potential or repeats Web2’s failures.
