Vitalik: The key to Ethereum's long-term sustainable development lies in protocol simplicity and a "garbage collection" mechanism
BlockBeats News, January 18th, Ethereum founder Vitalik posted, stating, "An important aspect of 'trustlessness,' 'escape-hatch-freeness,' and 'sovereignty,' which has long been underestimated, is the simplicity of the protocol. Even if a protocol is super decentralized, with hundreds of thousands of nodes, and has 49% Byzantine fault tolerance, where nodes use quantum-secure peerda and stark to fully validate everything, but if the protocol is a clumsy mess composed of hundreds of thousands of lines of code and five forms of cryptic doctorate-level cryptography, ultimately the protocol will fail to pass all three tests: not fully trustless, not fully sovereign, and not very secure."
One concern I have about Ethereum protocol development is that we may be too eager to add new features to meet specific needs, even if these features make the protocol bloated, or introduce entirely new interactive components or complex cryptographic technologies as key dependencies. This may bring short-term feature upgrades, but it will severely compromise the protocol's long-term sovereignty. The core issue is that if we measure protocol changes based on "how much change to the existing protocol," then to maintain backward compatibility, adding functions will far outnumber removing functions, and the protocol will inevitably become bloated over time. To address this issue, Ethereum's development process needs a clear "simplify" / "garbage collection" mechanism.
We hope that client developers will no longer have to deal with all old versions of the Ethereum protocol. This can be left to older version clients running in Docker containers to handle. In the long run, I hope that Ethereum's pace of change will slow down. I think, for various reasons, this is ultimately inevitable. The initial fifteen years should be seen as a growth stage, where we explored many ideas and observed which ones were effective, which were useful, and which were not. We should strive to prevent those useless parts from becoming a permanent drag on the Ethereum protocol."
You may also like

U.S. Oil (USOR) Price Prediction 2026–2030
Key Takeaways U.S. Oil (USOR) is a speculative Solana-based crypto project that aims to index the United States…

USOR Surges on Meme Narrative Despite No Real-World Asset Backing
Key Takeaways: USOR, a Solana-based token, has seen a notable surge driven by speculative narratives rather than verifiable…

How to Buy U.S. Oil Reserve (USOR) Cryptocurrency
Key Takeaways U.S. Oil Reserve (USOR) is a Solana-based token primarily traded on decentralized exchanges (DEXs). Claims have…

USOR vs Oil ETFs: Understanding Why the ‘Oil Reserve’ Token Doesn’t Track Crude Prices
Key Takeaways The U.S. Oil Reserve (USOR) token has become noteworthy for its claims, yet it does not…

Trend Research Reduces Ether Holdings After Major Market Turbulence
Key Takeaways: Trend Research has significantly cut down its Ether holdings, moving over 404,000 ETH to exchanges recently.…

Investors Channel $258M into Crypto Startups Despite $2 Trillion Market Sell-Off
Key Takeaways: Investors pumped approximately $258 million into crypto startups in early February, highlighting continued support for blockchain-related…

NBA Star Giannis Antetokounmpo Becomes Shareholder in Prediction Market Kalshi
Key Takeaways: Giannis Antetokounmpo, the NBA’s two-time MVP, invests in the prediction market platform Kalshi as a shareholder.…

Arizona Home Invasion Targets $66 Million in Cryptocurrency: Two Teens Charged
Key Takeaways Two teenagers from California face serious felony charges for allegedly attempting to steal $66 million in…

El Salvador’s Bukele Approval Reaches Record 91.9% Despite Limited Bitcoin Use
Key Takeaways: El Salvador President Nayib Bukele enjoys a record high approval rating of 91.9% from his populace,…

Crypto Price Prediction for February 6: XRP, Dogecoin, and Shiba Inu’s Market Movements
Key Takeaways: The crypto market experienced a notable shift with Bitcoin’s significant surge, impacting altcoins like XRP, Dogecoin,…

China Restricts Unapproved Yuan-Pegged Stablecoins to Maintain Currency Stability
Key Takeaways: China’s central bank and seven government agencies have banned the issuance of yuan-pegged stablecoins abroad without…

Solana Price Prediction: $80 SOL Looks Scary – But Smart Money Just Signaled This Might Be the Bottom
Key Takeaways Despite Solana’s descent to $80, some traders find security as smart money enters the fray, suggesting…

XRP Price Prediction: Major Ledger Upgrade Quietly Activated – Why This Could Be the Most Bullish Signal Yet
Key Takeaways: The activation of the Permissioned Domains amendment on XRPL represents a significant development in XRP’s potential…

Dogecoin Price Prediction: Death Cross Confirmed as DOGE Falls Below $0.10 – Is DOGE Reaching Zero?
Key Takeaways The death cross event signals potential bearish trends for Dogecoin as its price dips under $0.10,…

Stablecoin Inflows Have Doubled to $98B Amid Selling Pressure
Key Takeaways Stablecoin inflows to crypto exchanges have surged to $98 billion, doubling previous levels amidst heightened market…

Coinbase UK Executive Declares Tokenised Collateral a Mainstream Financial Force
Key Takeaways Tokenised collateral is transitioning from its initial experimental stages into becoming core infrastructure within financial markets.…

Best Crypto to Buy Now February 6 – XRP, Solana, Bitcoin
Key Takeaways The cryptocurrency market witnesses volatility amid a technology-sector selloff, but opportunities still exist for keen investors.…

Why Is Crypto Down Today, February 6, 2026
Key Takeaways The global cryptocurrency market has seen an 8% decline in the last 24 hours, standing at…
U.S. Oil (USOR) Price Prediction 2026–2030
Key Takeaways U.S. Oil (USOR) is a speculative Solana-based crypto project that aims to index the United States…
USOR Surges on Meme Narrative Despite No Real-World Asset Backing
Key Takeaways: USOR, a Solana-based token, has seen a notable surge driven by speculative narratives rather than verifiable…
How to Buy U.S. Oil Reserve (USOR) Cryptocurrency
Key Takeaways U.S. Oil Reserve (USOR) is a Solana-based token primarily traded on decentralized exchanges (DEXs). Claims have…
USOR vs Oil ETFs: Understanding Why the ‘Oil Reserve’ Token Doesn’t Track Crude Prices
Key Takeaways The U.S. Oil Reserve (USOR) token has become noteworthy for its claims, yet it does not…
Trend Research Reduces Ether Holdings After Major Market Turbulence
Key Takeaways: Trend Research has significantly cut down its Ether holdings, moving over 404,000 ETH to exchanges recently.…
Investors Channel $258M into Crypto Startups Despite $2 Trillion Market Sell-Off
Key Takeaways: Investors pumped approximately $258 million into crypto startups in early February, highlighting continued support for blockchain-related…