 
 
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has opened 2026 by outlining both the network’s progress and the challenges that still stand in the way of its long-term mission.
Reflecting on 2025, Buterin noted that Ethereum made meaningful technical advances, including higher gas limits, increased blob capacity, stronger node software quality, and significant performance breakthroughs across zkEVM implementations.
These upgrades, zkEVMs, and PeerDAS mark what he described as Ethereum’s largest step toward becoming a fundamentally more powerful and flexible blockchain.
Despite this progress, Buterin emphasized that Ethereum is still falling short of its own stated goals. The Ethereum co-founder cautioned against chasing short-term trends, such as whichever narrative dominates the market, whether tokenized dollars or politically driven memecoins.
Buterin also dismissed the idea that success should be measured by simply filling blockspace to boost ETH metrics, reiterating Ethereum’s core mission of building a world computer that serves as a foundational layer for a freer and more open internet.
 
That vision is supported by the creation of decentralized applications that operate without fraud, censorship, or reliance on centralized intermediaries.
These applications should continue running even if their original developers disappear, remain stable during major infrastructure failures, and protect user privacy by default.
Buterin argued that these properties once defined everyday tools. Yet, modern technology has shifted toward subscription-based models that lock users into permanent dependence on centralized providers.
In the view of the Ethereum co-founder, the network represents a direct rebellion against that trend.
To fulfill this role, Ethereum must become both highly usable at scale and genuinely decentralized. That requirement applies not only at the base blockchain level, including the software used to operate and interact with the network, but also across the application layer itself.
As it stands, improvements are already underway, but Buterin stressed that far more work is needed on all fronts.