Vitalik Buterin Calls for Simpler Ethereum to Achieve “True Trustlessness”

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has said that the blockchain network must become easier to understand to achieve “True Trustlessness.” He also highlighted the broader challenge faced by many blockchain protocols. In a post on X, Buterin argued that Ethereum is technically trustless but not flawless. With transactions and smart contracts enforced by open-source code and a decentralized network of validators, Ethereum is becoming increasingly complex in how the system works. He believes this undermines the spirit of trustlessness.

He said in a post on X, “An important and underrated form of trustlessness is increasing the number of people who can actually understand the whole protocol from top to bottom. Ethereum needs to get better at this by making the protocol simpler.”

Why Trustlessness Is Important?

Trustlessness in blockchain refers to systems that operate automatically through code and without requiring users to rely on developers or intermediaries. However, Buterin warned that if only a small group of experts can understand or maintain a protocol, users are effectively forced to trust that group instead.

When asked about the trade-off between advanced features and accessibility, Buterin suggested the Ethereum community should be open to control. He said, “We should be willing to have fewer features sometimes,” emphasizing clarity over complexity.

The comments echo concerns raised across the crypto industry. Last year, crypto executives told Cointelegraph that confusion around wallet management, technical jargon, and regulation continues to keep average users on the sidelines as the technology evolves.

Developers working on Ethereum-based projects agreed with Buterin’s assessment. INTMAX, a privacy-focused layer-2 network built on Ethereum, said that true trustlessness applies equally to privacy infrastructure. “If only five people can understand how your privacy protocol works, you haven’t achieved trustlessness, you’ve just changed who you trust. Simple, auditable privacy architecture > complex black boxes,” INTMAX said.

Ethereum’s own roadmap acknowledges usability challenges, noting that the network remains “too complex” for most people. Planned upgrades aim to drastically lower barriers to entry and make Ethereum as seamless to use as traditional web2 applications. proposed improvements include smart contract wallets to simplify gas fees and key management, as well as making it easier to run nodes on devices such as browsers and smartphones.