Last updated on March 10th, 2026 at 11:55 am
Vitalik Buterin has reminded the crypto community that Ethereum does not belong to him or any single group.
In a recent post on X, Buterin said people do not need to agree with his personal views to build on or use Ethereum. Whether the topic is DeFi, privacy-focused payments, AI, politics, or even cultural opinions, he made it clear that disagreement does not exclude anyone from the network.
Ethereum, he said, was built to be permissionless and censorship-resistant. That means anyone can deploy an application, move funds, or participate without asking for approval from him, the Ethereum Foundation, or developers maintaining the protocol.
You do not have to agree with me on which applications are and are not corposlop to use Ethereum.
You do not have to agree with me on what trust assumptions are acceptable in which situations to use Ethereum.
You do not have to agree with me on political topics to use Ethereum.…
— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) February 16, 2026
Freedom to build and freedom to speak
Buterin also talked about the criticism he received for his own statements about projects developed on Ethereum. He clarified that he cannot and will not restrict anyone from using his network, but he also has the freedom to speak out against projects that he does not agree with.
To him, open systems mean open discussions. He can speak out against projects that he thinks do not meet certain standards. This is not censorship. This is part of free speech. Just as he can disagree with the projects of others, others can disagree with his ideas.
He also said that protocols should be neutral. They should be infrastructure. But people are not infrastructure. They can have their own opinions.
A decentralized ecosystem
To illustrate his point, Buterin used the example of Linux. Linux is an open technology that is used in many different ways by many different people. Some of these uses are in line with the original vision of Linux. Others are not. But the technology remains open.
The same applies to Ethereum. It is also capable of supporting multiple visions simultaneously. One can agree and disagree with Buterin on various matters. What is important, according to Buterin, is that the network remains open and accessible to all who want to build.
In other news, Buterin has called on the developers of Layer 2 (L2) to focus on innovation rather than replication.
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