Vitalik Buterin Highlights Benefits of Open Source Applications

Vitalik Buterin recently discussed the advantages of open-source applications in a post. According to Foresight News, Buterin shared his experience of needing to verify the signers of his multi-signature address this morning. Without the Safe app installed on his phone, he was able to retrieve the necessary information by using the 'Read Contract' feature on Etherscan. Buterin emphasized that the additional user experience benefits provided by open-source applications or wallets can be unexpectedly helpful, surpassing the capabilities of traditional websites. He further noted that privacy concerns might eventually limit this workflow. To achieve a privacy-focused equivalent workflow, Buterin suggested that users could save a 'view key,' an extended version of their address containing additional privacy information. Block explorers could support this by placing privacy information in the hash tag section of the URL, keeping it client-side. However, he acknowledged the risk of encouraging users to paste any type of secret information into URLs or web pages. Ultimately, he stressed the need for wallets to perform more operations directly.