Vitalik Buterin Discusses Ethereum's Dual Role and Decentralization

According to Odaily, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin addressed the question of whether Ethereum should be more like Bitcoin or a world computer. He stated that both perspectives are compatible. Buterin suggested a simple test to determine if a blockchain is truly decentralized: if its foundation disappeared, could the chain survive? He believes only Bitcoin and Ethereum can confidently answer yes to this question. Most of Ethereum's development occurs outside its foundation, with independent client teams and researchers. This independence was not present five years ago. Buterin emphasized that sacrificing decentralization for higher transactions per second (TPS) is a mistake, as new chains with higher TPS can always emerge. Decentralization and resilience are valuable traits that few blockchains possess, benefiting both digital currency and the concept of a world computer. However, the world computer must address scalability issues. The term "world computer" does not imply supporting every global application simultaneously but rather enabling applications to interoperate.