🎙 Vitalik Buterin on Building a Base Layer for the Global Economy Without Compromising on Decentralization

For the Ethereum creator in this podcast interview, it's almost a given that Ethereum will become mainstream and the most secure base layer.

Vitalik Buterin wrote the Ethereum white paper when he was just 19. His aim was simple yet comprehensive, to create a ‘world computer’ that was designed to be a flexible base layer for all online applications without the need of any third party. Since its inception in 2015, Ethereum has become the most active and largest smart contracts platform, but has it achieved the ‘world computer’ goal?

Vitalik says yes and no. In this interview, it seemed like almost a given to Vitalik that Ethereum will achieve this goal. The bigger concern is not whether the network becomes a settlement layer and decentralized engine for smart contracts used globally, but how much value and impact applications running on top of it will bring.

Vitalik explains the significance of the upcoming merge between the proof of stake chain and its application layer, walks us through the different stages of the process, and provides guidance as to when it will happen. We also discuss why decentralization matters anyway, and whether the user experience of web3 could ever be the core appeal of decentralized apps, beyond censorship resistance. We talk about the current regulatory status for crypto and how, to him, it risks falling into an “anarcho-tyranny.”

Vitalik also takes on criticisms and explains why he believes Ehereum's design is a sustainable way forward. We discussed the tradeoffs in a multi-chain future, cancel culture permeating into the Ethereum community, and stick around till the end when Vitalik comments on what makes him defiant. 

The podcast was led by Camila Russo, and edited by Alp Gasimov and Daniel Flynn. Transcript was edited by Samuel Haig.

🎙Listen to the interview in this week’s podcast episode here:

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👀 Only paid subscribers have access to the full interview transcript below.