Vitalik Buterin Says Ethreum Must Be 'First And Foremost' Decentralized, Resilient, Deems It A Game Network Is 'Suited To Win'

Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) creator Vitalik Buterin said Monday that the network will prioritize decentralization and resilience over efficiency and convenience.

Buterin’s Case For Increased Resilience

In a lengthy X post, Buterin argued that efficiency and convenience focus on improving the “average case,” where centralized tech giants such as Silicon Valley companies will always outperform Ethereum.

“So, the primary underlying game that Ethereum plays must be a different game. What is the game? Resilience,” the cryptocurrency mogul said.

"Ethereum was not created to make finance efficient or apps convenient. It was created to set people free"

This was an important – and controversial – line from the Trustless Manifesto ( https://t.co/1F1Fe9OQPh ), and it is worth revisiting it and better understanding what it…

— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) January 5, 2026

Buterin argued that resilience makes a system functional even under extreme cases, including deplatforming, developer abandonment, infrastructure failures, or even an internet cyberwar.

“This is the game that Ethereum is suited to win, and it delivers a type of value that, in our increasingly unstable world, a lot of people are going to need,” he added. “Ethereum must first and foremost be decentralized, permissionless and resilient block space.”

See Also: Ethereum Staking Hits ETFs — And Grayscale’s ETHE Got There First

The Counter Arguments

Several users in replies disagreed with Buterin’s dichotomy.

William Mougayar, author of the book “The Business Blockchain,” questioned why Ethereum can’t have both decentralization and efficiency.

“Strict adherence to a cypherpunk ethos doesn't protect Ethereum; it isolates it. To win the game of resilience, we must also win the game of relevance,” he said.

Hang on. Why not both?
It is a false dichotomy to believe that it's "Freedom vs. Efficiency."
You are right that Ethereum's soul is resilience. But a soul without a body cannot act in the world.

Institutions bring the body, the capital, the users, and the political shield. We…

— William Mougayar (@wmougayar) January 5, 2026

Another user argued that without improved convenience, resilient systems will lack the ability to onboard the global population.

“If it’s not accessible to everyone on earth, it’s useless,” they added.

made up ghosts and dichotomies

you have to strive for more efficiency and convenience, or else your so called resilience won't have capacity for everyone on earth

if it's not accessible to everyone on earth it's useless

we don't want to selectively set some people free, we…

— João Mendonça (@joaomendoncaaaa) January 5, 2026

The Trade-off Between Efficiency And Resilience

The Ethereum Layer-1 has never gone offline since its launch in 2015, operating with a track record of effectively 100% uptime, although Layer-2 networks like Base have experienced outages.

That said, it re,mains slower compared to chains like Solana (CRYPTO: SOL) and Tron (CRYPTO: TRX), processing just over 20 transactions per second, according to Chainspect.

Price Action: At the time of writing, ETH was exchanging hands at $3,212.08, up 1.78% in the last 24 hours, according to data from Benzinga Pro.

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• Microsoft Requiring Internet To Install Windows Is Dystopian, Says Ethereum Creator Vitalik Buterin Amid Worries About Loss Of Control Over PCs

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