Bankless Ethereum's Next Decade | Vitalik Buterin
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Aug 11, 2025 
Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, shares insights into the platform's first ten years and its future. He reflects on surprising growth areas like DeFi and NFTs, and discusses hard lessons from past challenges, including The DAO incident. Vitalik explores Ethereum's identity, emphasizing privacy as a core value, and outlines the trade-offs between Layer 1 and Layer 2 solutions. He envisions Ethereum thriving in an AI-dominated future while navigating the complexities of decentralization and user privacy.
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Ethereum Grew Beyond Its Side‑Project Origins
- Vitalik expected Ethereum to be a side project but it became far bigger than he imagined.
- He says development took longer as standards and security rose, yet unlocked DAOs, DeFi and NFTs.
The DAO's Rapid Rise And Collapse
- The DAO amassed an enormous ETH stake early on and then collapsed shortly after, surprising the ecosystem.
- Vitalik cites the DAO as an early runaway use case that revealed governance and security risks.
Fund Public Goods With Prediction Markets
- Try prediction‑market style mechanisms to fund public goods instead of relying solely on token voting or quadratic funding.
- Vitalik recommends experiments like Deep Funding that scale expert judgment with markets and juries.