Vitalik: DeFi is a core component of Ethereum's value.

vitalik.eth stated in an article published on the X platform that DeFi is a core component of Ethereum's value, and financial empowerment is key to achieving autonomy and freedom. The Ethereum Foundation (EF) envisions DeFi as building a permissionless, open-source, private, and secure global financial system that maximizes user control over assets, minimizes centralized bottlenecks and trusted third parties, and democratizes risk management, wealth accumulation, and payments. The Foundation emphasizes that protocols must pass "deprecation testing" to ensure continued operation even if the original team disappears or is attacked. To achieve this vision, the Foundation focuses on areas including: improving security through auditing, standards, and wallet-side security measures; enhancing security through AI-assisted formal verification and client-side proxies; improving the security and decentralization of oracles; advancing privacy-preserving payments and more complex use cases; and improving open-source licensing and forkability. The Foundation stated its willingness to collaborate with parties committed to building a permissionless, open-source, less intermediary-driven, more secure, and user-autonomous DeFi ecosystem, making it the preferred platform for individuals and institutions on Ethereum and providing global fund management solutions.