Vitalik and Ethereum Foundation go all-out on permissionless DeFi

Vitalik Buterin and the Ethereum Foundation (EF) have reaffirmed their commitment to permissionless DeFi as a foundational pillar of the Ethereum network. 

Earlier today, Buterin discussed how the Ethereum Foundation approaches DeFi and what the foundation prioritizes in supporting and advancing finance.

As far as Vitalik Buterin is concerned, DeFi is a core part of Ethereum’s value, even though he acknowledged that “Finance is far from the only thing that Ethereum is good for,” but he called it an “important thing.”

“Defi today makes the world’s best savings, risk management, and wealth-building opportunities permissionlessly available worldwide. We need to build on that,” he wrote, drawing comparisons to Ethereum’s early DeFi era, which he claimed was great because “it dared to dream and innovate and come up with totally new paradigms (eg, AMMs).”

Buterin believes that DeFi can bring back that spirit. However, he urged users not to “just make a better stablecoin” but to dig a layer deeper and think about the underlying problem and come up with an even better solution.

Buterin on what the EF is interested in supporting

According to Buterin, the EF is not interested in supporting “onchain finance” or even “defi” indiscriminately. He claims the EF has a specific vision of what they want to see out of DeFi and that includes “permissionless, open-source, private, security-first global finance that maximizes people’s control over their own assets, minimizes centralized chokepoints and trusted third parties, and democratizes risk management and wealth building (the two key goals of finance according to modern portfolio theory) as well as payments.”

He added that the EF is on the lookout for protocols that can pass the “walkway test,” i.e., that can keep functioning even if the original team ups and leaves under any circumstances.

Buterin knows that bringing such a vision to reality will inevitably take a lot of work. After all, Defi is a complex toolchain. However, the Ethereum cofounder shared a list of things he claims the EF cares about.

He admits that “Ethereum is a permissionless protocol, and nothing stops people from deploying insecure protocols, protocols that enshrine ultimately unneeded centralized trust in the name of convenience, or dopamine-maximizing gambleslop.”

Buterin ended his post with a call to action to anyone interested in working to build a “permissionless, open-source, intermediary-minimizing, and security- and user-agency-maximizing defi ecosystem.

EF renews support for Ethereum’s DeFi sector

Vitalik Buterin’s post comes just as the EF has been making moves to galvanize Ethereum’s DeFi landscape. On February 23, it published a blog post titled “The Ethereum Foundation’s Commitment to DeFi,” and it formally outlined support for the sector.

Some of its key actions and commitments include the establishment of a dedicated DeFi unit within its app relations team that will support DeFi protocol development as well as builders on the network and the support of mature and experimental projects, together with security improvements, among others.

Buterin’s framing pushes back against more centralized directions and doubles down on the network’s cypherpunk roots.

“Our job should be to make the open-source, permissionless, trustless, secure censorship resistant ecosystem strong, so that it can hold its own and ultimately prove itself superior to both anything closed / permissioned / trusted-party-backdoored on Ethereum, and to such things outside Ethereum in the traditional world,” Buterin wrote in a separate post.

Buterin has been unloading ETH

Buterin has become more active and outspoken since the year began, especially on X, where he shares lengthy and thought-provoking pieces that leave no doubt about where he stands on topics like AI, privacy, and decentralization.

And considering his status in Ethereum and the wider crypto landscape, his activities often pop up on radars. One standout from recent days is the rate at which he is selling Ethereum.

According to Lookonchain, he sold 1,869 ETH worth $3.67 million in about 48 hours.

Notably, Vitalik is not known for liquidating his stash for profit. Historical context points to a pattern of Vitalik directing funds from token sales to projects he believes represent core Ethereum ideals.

Late last month, Cryptpolitan reported that Vitalik sold 211.84 ETH for $500,000 USDC that was sent to Kanro, a platform for open-source health projects.

The Ethereum co-founder has warned that personal sales could come more regularly as the EF enters a period of austerity.

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