Vitalik Buterin on Ethereum's Path Forward: Scaling, Decentralization, and the World Computer Vision

In early January 2025, Vitalik Buterin outlined his assessment of Ethereum’s progress and the significant work that still lies ahead. The Ethereum co-founder emphasized that while the protocol has achieved important technical milestones in recent years, realizing the ultimate vision of a truly decentralized world computer requires sustained effort across multiple fronts—particularly in scalability, usability, and decentralization.

2025 Achievements: Ethereum’s Technical Milestones

Vitalik Buterin highlighted several key accomplishments that underscore Ethereum’s ongoing evolution. The protocol has increased its gas capacity and expanded blob space, allowing more transactions to be processed efficiently. Additionally, improvements to node software have enhanced the overall stability and performance of the network. Perhaps most significantly, zkEVM (zero-knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machine) has reached a critical performance milestone, bringing Ethereum closer to achieving the scalability properties necessary for mass adoption. Complementing these advances, PeerDAS—a data availability sampling mechanism—represents a substantial leap forward in the protocol’s ability to handle increased throughput without sacrificing decentralization or security.

The Remaining Challenges in Decentralization and Scalability

Despite these achievements, Vitalik Buterin stressed that Ethereum must overcome substantial hurdles to achieve its ultimate mission. The protocol requires continued improvements at both the foundational blockchain layer—encompassing runtime environments and peer-to-peer communication infrastructure—and at the application layer where users directly interact with decentralized systems. Scaling solutions must be implemented without compromising the decentralization that makes Ethereum valuable, a delicate balance that demands ongoing innovation and refinement.

Building the Truly Decentralized World Computer

At the heart of Vitalik Buterin’s vision is the concept of Ethereum as the core infrastructure for a free and open internet. This world computer should enable decentralized applications that operate with complete transparency—free from fraud, censorship, and third-party control. Critically, these systems must maintain functionality even in adversarial scenarios: when original developers abandon projects, when centralized service providers like Cloudflare experience outages, or when hostile actors attempt to interfere. Achieving this requires a multi-layered approach where usability, scalability, and decentralization are strengthened in concert across both technical and application layers.

Vitalik Buterin’s analysis makes clear that Ethereum’s evolution is far from complete. The protocol’s success depends on the community’s ability to navigate complex tradeoffs while maintaining the core principles that define decentralized finance and Web3 infrastructure. The next chapter of Ethereum’s development will determine whether the network can deliver on the promise of being the foundational layer for a genuinely decentralized digital ecosystem.