Vitalik Buterin Defends Ethereum Foundation Amid Criticism

According to Cointelegraph, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has maintained the highest 'KOL mindshare' on Crypto X over the past week, despite facing significant criticism directed at both the blockchain and the Ethereum Foundation. Data from Kaito AI, cited by Andy, host of the crypto show The Rollup, revealed that Buterin held a 1.69% relative KOL mindshare, followed by Helius Labs CEO Mert Mumtaz at 1.18%. Buterin recently addressed the criticisms in a detailed post on X, defending the Ethereum Foundation's routine sale of Ether (ETH). He explained that the proceeds from these sales are used to compensate Ethereum developers and researchers, ensuring the network's proof-of-stake mechanism operates efficiently. This mechanism allows for transaction inclusion in under 30 seconds at low fees, incorporates privacy features with zero-knowledge proofs, and has kept the network running without downtime since 2016. Buterin urged critics to 'show some respect.' When questioned about why the Ethereum Foundation does not stake all its Ether and use the revenue to cover costs, Buterin clarified that the foundation aims to avoid being compelled to make an 'official choice' in the event of a contentious hard fork. However, he mentioned that the foundation is exploring alternative methods to engage with staking, such as issuing grants in staked Ether, which would allow grant recipients to manage withdrawal timelines and retain rewards. He also discussed the possibility of delegating the foundation's staking responsibilities to other organizations. Buterin has become increasingly vocal on X as negative sentiment around Ethereum continues to grow. Much of the criticism stems from Ether's underwhelming price performance compared to Bitcoin (BTC) and Solana (SOL), as well as concerns over Ethereum's layer 2 scaling strategy and the resulting decline in base layer revenues. In response, Buterin has been emphasizing Ethereum's technical roadmap, sharing his insights on how the 'Merge,' 'Surge,' 'Scourge,' 'Verge,' and 'Purge' stages could shape the future of Ethereum.