Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, shared his vision for the future of the network, focusing on decentralization, anti-censorship, solo-stacking and the development of Layer 2 (L2) solutions.

1. Decentralization and anti-censorship

Buterin believes that decentralization remains a key value of Ethereum. It is important for the network to be resilient to political and economic pressures. He sees decentralization as not only technical, but also political and architectural – it avoids centralized control, minimizing the risks of attacks and collusion. Anti-censorship plays an important role in ensuring freedom on the web: developers should create mechanisms to protect users from restrictions, even if this would displease regulators

2. Solo-steaking

Vitalik actively promotes the idea of solo-staking, arguing that lowering the minimum threshold to participate in Ethereum staking will increase decentralization. Right now, to become a validator, one is required to have a minimum of 32 ETH, which limits accessibility for regular users. Buterin proposes to revise this bar to attract more participants and make the network more resistant to centralization caused by large staking pools

3. Second level decisions (L2)

As the Ethereum network grows, Layer 1 fees become higher, limiting mass usage. Layer 2 (L2) solutions, such as rollups, help reduce fees and increase network capacity. Buterin said that L2 development is one of the priorities to improve Ethereum’s user experience and availability. Lower fees and faster transaction speeds can make the blockchain more attractive to a wider audience and improve the cost-effectiveness of smart contracts and applications

Thus, the future of Ethereum, according to Buterin, lies in strengthening decentralization, developing solutions to combat censorship, and improving opportunities for user participation through solo-stacking and L2. These steps should increase the security of the network and make it more accessible to users around the world.