In a rare moment of open critique, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin acknowledged that while Ethereum leads in some critical areas, Bitcoin remains ahead in several foundational aspects of blockchain technology.
Responding to an ongoing discussion on X about Ethereum’s current strengths and lingering challenges, Buterin weighed in on the protocol’s development. He affirmed that Ethereum continues to set the pace in censorship resistance and network security, thanks to its evolving architecture, which includes innovations such as Proof of Stake, rollups, and MEV mitigation strategies.
> I believe Ethereum is leading in terms of CR and security.
There’s some aspects of this where bitcoin is ahead imo
(eg. less code complexity, lower rate of protocol change, higher full node count, less dependence on RPCs)
— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) June 3, 2025
However, Buterin didn’t shy away from recognizing Bitcoin’s dominance in other critical areas. According to him, Bitcoin’s strength lies in its simpler codebase, minimal protocol alterations, higher node count, and reduced reliance on third-party remote procedure call (RPC) services like Infura, Alchemy, or Ankr. These features, he noted, contribute to a more decentralized and robust infrastructure.
“There are some aspects of this where Bitcoin is ahead, in my opinion,”
Buterin admitted in his post.
He further explained that Bitcoin’s lighter design and conservative development path offer advantages in long-term trust, ease of maintenance, and verifiability. While Ethereum has undergone nearly 20 major upgrades—most recently the Pectra upgrade in May—Bitcoin has maintained a more stable protocol, reinforcing its core philosophy of minimalism and reliability.
In a separate post, Buterin addressed another debated topic: cross-chain and cross-layer interoperability. He challenged the claim that interoperability at the infrastructure level is already “solved,” arguing that until cross-layer (L2) operations are as trustless, censorship-resistant, and free from intermediaries as base-layer transactions, true decentralization has not been achieved.
“It’s not solved until cross-L2 actions can be as censorship-resistant, trustless, and intermediary-free as within-L2 actions,”
Buterin emphasized, invoking Ethereum’s “no regression principle” that ensures new solutions do not compromise on decentralization fundamentals.
Buterin’s comments reflect Ethereum’s ambitious roadmap and its willingness to self-reflect as it pushes to refine Layer 2 scalability solutions. Meanwhile, Bitcoin’s less-is-more approach continues to highlight the trade-offs between flexibility and simplicity in the blockchain space.
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