Vitalik Buterin

Key Takeaways: Grok Neural Network Criticism: Vitalik Buterin Defends Against Musk https://pressreleasecloud.io/grok-neural-network-criticism-vitalik-buterin-defends-against-musk/ Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin recently defended Grok AI against critics, calling it an “unconditional improvement” for the X platform’s truth-friendliness Despite security concerns including a leak of 370,000 user conversations, Buterin believes Grok’s unpredictability helps counter user biases Grok’s neural network has been criticized for inherent biases that favor Elon Musk, highlighting concerns about centralized AI development For crypto traders, AI tools like Grok represent a new frontier for verifying on-chain and off-chain information The partnership between Telegram and xAI could significantly impact how crypto communities access and verify information

Recorded live at Medici SG 25 and released as a special episode, David and Sean sit down with Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum. Vitalik discusses the evolution of Ethereum’s ecosystem from experimental innovation to “low-risk DeFi”, and how commercialization is shaping its next phase. He also highlights projects like Uniswap, Polymarket, and decentralized social networks as milestones in Ethereum’s growth, and shares his perspective on Layer 2 rollups, institutional participation, and the network’s long-term economic sustainability. View the Full Level Up Podcast Disclaimer Here : https://level-up-podcast-disclaimer.super.site/ Key Points From This Episode: [00:00:00] Teaser [00:00:15] Show introduction [00:01:02] Vitalik’s perspective on Ethereum’s growing commercialization [00:02:07] Defining low-risk DeFi and its evolution [00:03:43] The relationship between experimental and mature Ethereum apps [00:06:33] Uniswap and other pivotal zero-to-one Ethereum innovations [00:08:39] How to expand low-risk DeFi to 20 million more users [00:10:07] Scaling Ethereum: stablecoins, UX, and Layer 1 upgrades [00:11:28] Vitalik’s view on corporate Layer 2s and ecosystem synergy [00:13:37] Ethereum’s fee structure and potential revenue increases [00:16:14] Explaining ETH’s multi-role asset narrative [00:17:21] Wall Street’s entrance into the Ethereum ecosystem [00:18:33] Concerns around leverage, risk, and staking centralization [00:20:26] Institutional influence on Ethereum governance [00:21:36] Will ETH flip Bitcoin? Vitalik’s response Links: The Medici Network: https://www.medici.network/ Podcast Site: https://levelup.medici.network/ Interested in being a Guest? Connect with Elmira on X: https://x.com/elmira_yilham Co-Hosts David Grider, Finality Capital - https://x.com/David_Grid Sean Farrell, Fundstrat Global Advisors - https://x.com/SeanMFarrell Guests Vitalik Buterin - https://x.com/vitalikbuterin Production and editing by The Podcast Consultant - https://thepodcastconsultant.com/

Podcast : Doom Debates! Episode : Debate with Vitalik Buterin — Will “d/acc” Protect Humanity from Superintelligent AI? Release date : 2025-08-12 Get Podcast Transcript → powered by Listen411 - fast audio-to-text and summarization Vitalik Buterin is the founder of Ethereum, the world's second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, currently valued at around $500 billion. But beyond revolutionizing blockchain technology, Vitalik has become one of the most thoughtful voices on AI safety and existential risk. He's donated over $665 million to pandemic prevention and other causes, and has a 12% P(Doom) – putting him squarely in what I consider the "sane zone" for AI risk assessment. What makes Vitalik particularly interesting is that he's both a hardcore techno-optimist who built one of the most successful decentralized systems ever created, and someone willing to seriously consider AI regulation and coordination mechanisms. Vitalik coined the term "d/acc" – defensive, decentralized, democratic, differential acceleration – as a middle path between uncritical AI acceleration and total pause scenarios. He argues we need to make the world more like Switzerland (defensible, decentralized) and less like the Eurasian steppes (vulnerable to conquest). We dive deep into the tractability of AI alignment, whether current approaches like DAC can actually work when superintelligence arrives, and why he thinks a pluralistic world of competing AIs might be safer than a single aligned superintelligence. We also explore his vision for human-AI merger through brain-computer interfaces and uploading. The crux of our disagreement is that I think we're heading for a "plants vs. animals" scenario where AI will simply operate on timescales we can't match, while Vitalik believes we can maintain agency through the right combination of defensive technologies and institutional design. Finally, we tackle the discourse itself – I ask Vitalik to debunk the common ad hominem attacks against AI doomers, from "it's just a fringe position" to "no real builders believe in doom." His responses carry weight given his credibility as both a successful entrepreneur and someone who's maintained intellectual honesty throughout his career. Timestamps * 00:00:00 - Cold Open * 00:00:37 - Introducing Vitalik Buterin * 00:02:14 - Vitalik's altruism * 00:04:36 - Rationalist community influence * 00:06:30 - Opinion of Eliezer Yudkowsky and MIRI * 00:09:00 - What’s Your P(Doom)™ * 00:24:42 - AI timelines * 00:31:33 - AI consciousness * 00:35:01 - Headroom above human intelligence * 00:48:56 - Techno optimism discussion * 00:58:38 - e/acc: Vibes-based ideology without deep arguments * 01:02:49 - d/acc: Defensive, decentralized, democratic acceleration * 01:11:37 - How plausible is d/acc? * 01:20:53 - Why libertarian acceleration can paradoxically break decentralization * 01:25:49 - Can we merge with AIs? * 01:35:10 - Mili

Vitalik Buterin is the founder of Ethereum, the world's second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, currently valued at around $500 billion. But beyond revolutionizing blockchain technology, Vitalik has become one of the most thoughtful voices on AI safety and existential risk. He's donated over $665 million to pandemic prevention and other causes, and has a 12% P(Doom) – putting him squarely in what I consider the "sane zone" for AI risk assessment. What makes Vitalik particularly interesting is that he's both a hardcore techno-optimist who built one of the most successful decentralized systems ever created, and someone willing to seriously consider AI regulation and coordination mechanisms. Vitalik coined the term "d/acc" – defensive, decentralized, democratic, differential acceleration – as a middle path between uncritical AI acceleration and total pause scenarios. He argues we need to make the world more like Switzerland (defensible, decentralized) and less like the Eurasian steppes (vulnerable to conquest). We dive deep into the tractability of AI alignment, whether current approaches like DAC can actually work when superintelligence arrives, and why he thinks a pluralistic world of competing AIs might be safer than a single aligned superintelligence. We also explore his vision for human-AI merger through brain-computer interfaces and uploading. The crux of our disagreement is that I think we're heading for a "plants vs. animals" scenario where AI will simply operate on timescales we can't match, while Vitalik believes we can maintain agency through the right combination of defensive technologies and institutional design. Finally, we tackle the discourse itself – I ask Vitalik to debunk the common ad hominem attacks against AI doomers, from "it's just a fringe position" to "no real builders believe in doom." His responses carry weight given his credibility as both a successful entrepreneur and someone who's maintained intellectual honesty throughout his career. Timestamps * 00:00:00 - Cold Open * 00:00:37 - Introducing Vitalik Buterin * 00:02:14 - Vitalik's altruism * 00:04:36 - Rationalist community influence * 00:06:30 - Opinion of Eliezer Yudkowsky and MIRI * 00:09:00 - What’s Your P(Doom)™ * 00:24:42 - AI timelines * 00:31:33 - AI consciousness * 00:35:01 - Headroom above human intelligence * 00:48:56 - Techno optimism discussion * 00:58:38 - e/acc: Vibes-based ideology without deep arguments * 01:02:49 - d/acc: Defensive, decentralized, democratic acceleration * 01:11:37 - How plausible is d/acc? * 01:20:53 - Why libertarian acceleration can paradoxically break decentralization * 01:25:49 - Can we merge with AIs? * 01:35:10 - Military AI concerns: How war accelerates dangerous development * 01:42:26 - The intractability question * 01:51:10 - Anthropic and tractability-washing the AI alignment problem * 02:00:05 - The state of AI x-risk discourse * 02:05:14 - Debunking ad hominem attacks against doomers * 02:23:41 - Liron’s outro Links Vitalik’s website: https://vitalik.eth.limo Vitalik’s Twitter: https://x.com/vitalikbuterin Eliezer Yudkowsky’s explanation of p-Zombies: https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/fdEWWr8St59bXLbQr/zombies-zombies — D

Ethereum just turned 10, and Vitalik Buterin returns to reflect on the last decade—and where it’s headed next. In this conversation, Vitalik shares what surprised him most about Ethereum’s growth, the hard lessons from challenges like The DAO and NFTs, and what he’d do differently if starting again. We explore Ethereum’s evolving cultural identity, privacy as a core value, the tradeoffs between L1 and L2, and how Vitalik envisions Ethereum surviving an AI-dominated future. ------ 🎬 DEBRIEF | RYAN & DAVID UNPACKING THE EPISODE https://www.bankless.com/podcast/debrief-ethereums-next-decade-vitalik-buterin ------ BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🪙FRAX | SELF SUFFICIENT DeFi https://bankless.cc/Frax 🦄UNISWAP | SWAP ON UNICHAIN https://bankless.cc/unichain 🛞MANTLE | MODULAR LAYER 2 NETWORK https://bankless.cc/Mantle ------ TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 0:52 Ethereum’s First 2 Years 2:25 Ethereum’s Top Contributions 4:18 Biggest Surprises 7:37 What Took Longer than Expected 9:05 Overcoming Challenges 11:03 Lesson for Younger Vitalik 15:53 Bitcoin vs Ethereum 18:49 Ethereum’s Cultural Evolution 32:11 Privacy on Ethereum 37:42 Nation State Resistant Privacy 43:03 Cypherpunk vs Mainstream 56:05 World Ledger 59:09 Ethereum in 2024 1:02:23 Changes in the Ethereum Foundation 1:10:10 Economic Alignment 1:16:38 Scaling the L1 1:31:21 Ethereum’s Barbell Strategy 1:39:28 Ethereum Nationalism 1:48:28 ETH Treasuries 1:55:19 The Next 10 Years for Ethereum 1:59:35 The Next 10 Years for Vitalik 2:01:25 The Next 10 Years for Bankless 2:02:52 Closing & Disclaimers ------ RESOURCES Vitalik Buterin https://x.com/VitalikButerin 2021 Endgame https://vitalik.eth.limo/general/2021/12/06/endgame.html Convex and Concave Dispositions https://vitalik.eth.limo/general/2020/11/08/concave.html ------ Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures⁠

The tradition of Epicenter x Vitalik Buterin continued this year as well at EthCC[8], where we got the chance of picking his brain about recent research, interests and Ethereum Foundation’s direction going forward. Join us for a fascinating discussion on biotech and how Vitalik’s Shiba ended up funding it, the utility of blockchains in nowadays society and Vitalik’s view on the Ethereum ecosystem and the Foundation’s response to community requests. Topics covered in this episode: Vitalik’s current interests How Shiba Inu funded biotech research The Merge and its impact Vitalik’s motivation and view on blockchain utility Ethereum Foundation’s changes Is supporting ETH price important for EF? Are L2s incentively aligned with Ethereum L1? Native L2s The risk of quantum computers Episode links: Vitalik Buterin on X Ethereum on X Ethereum Foundation on X EthCC on X Sponsors: Gnosis: Gnosis builds decentralized infrastructure for the Ethereum ecosystem, since 2015. This year marks the launch of Gnosis Pay— the world's first Decentralized Payment Network. Get started today at - gnosis.io Chorus One: one of the largest node operators worldwide, trusted by 175,000+ accounts across more than 60 networks, Chorus One combines institutional-grade security with the highest yields at - chorus.one This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain & Sebastien Couture.

It happened, folks! Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has joined the Lads for an amazing episode. We cover everything from the future of Ethereum, to AI, memecoins, how gold is lame, and the risk Bitcoin and Ethereum face with quantum computing. Stick around to the end as Vitalik judges this week's pastas. In Episode #73 we cover: 00:00 Coming Up On Steady Lads… 01:35 Vitalik Is Trad w/ Scheduling 02:50 Crypto & A.I. Intersections 08:32 Is Vitalik In The Trenches? 14:38 Have We Earned It? 21:19 Ethereum's North Star 32:35 Is The EF Like The EU? 46:29 ETH: The Asset 54:44 The Quantum Risk To Crypto 1:04:11 Quick Fire Questions 1:20:02 Pasta of the Week 🍝 Make sure to Like & Subscribe, and hit the notification bell so you don't miss an episode! ------ SL Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/0xSteadyLads SL YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@0xSteadyLads ------ * Vitalik Buterin • https://x.com/VitalikButerin * Jordi Alexander • https://twitter.com/gametheorizing * Justin Bram • https://twitter.com/JustinCBram * Taiki Maeda • https://twitter.com/TaikiMaeda2

Farcaster-based social media app Anoncast has quickly grabbed the crypto community’s attention—especially after Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin jumped in. The platform allows users to speak freely while ensuring no one—not even the platform itself—can trace their identity. And in its short week-and-a-half lifespan, it’s already generated thousands of posts. In this lighter, Black Friday edition of Unchained, developer Kartik Patel joins to discuss how Anoncast works and why the platform has taken off so quickly. He shares insights on the challenges of maintaining anonymity in a connected world, how AI intersects with these developments, and what it was like to “nerd-snipe” Buterin. Show highlights: What sparked the rise of Anon and how it evolved into a ZK-powered anonymous posting platform Kartik’s favorite casts and what he likes about the platform Why the platform has evolved so quickly How users can make casts How Anoncast completely protects the anonymity of all posters Kartik’s background in crypto and how he came to be involved in Anoncast Why it felt like a “dream” when Vitalik Buterin bought the ANON memecoin How AI is intersecting with this new era of social media Why Anoncast moderates the posts The new feature that was designed to give credit back to users Visit our website for breaking news, analysis, op-eds, articles to learn about crypto, and much more: unchainedcrypto.com Thank you to our sponsors! Polkadot Guest Kartik Patel, developer of Anoncast Links Decrypt: Vitalik Buterin Buys Anon, Token Surged 350%—What's It All About? Viral cast possibly about the Ethereum Foundation selling ETH Timestamps: 00:00 Intro 01:13 How Anoncast became a ZK-powered anonymous platform 05:02 Kartik’s favorite casts and why they stand out 06:44 Why Anoncast has caught on so quickly 07:32 How Anoncast technically enables anonymous posting 11:40 How anonymity is protected on Anoncast 13:28 Kartik’s story and future plans for app development 15:19 Vitalik Buterin’s surprising interaction with Anoncast 16:56 The role of AI in the new era of social media 20:03 Why Anoncast moderates the posts 21:45 A new feature so users can take credit 23:42 Crypto News Recap Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In deze aflevering van Elke in Cryptoland portretteert journalist Elke van Boxmeer Vitalik Buterin, de man achter Ethereum, die met zijn platform de grenzen van de cryptowereld verlegde. Vitalik Buterin lanceerde Ethereum in 2015. Hiermee bracht hij een revolutie teweeg in de cryptowereld: waar Bitcoin alleen als digitale munt diende, maakte Ethereum het mogelijk om veel verder te gaan. Maar wie is Vitalik Buterin eigenlijk? En op welke manier draagt hij bij aan de voortdurende ontwikkeling van de cryptowereld? Dat hoor je in deze aflevering van Elke in Cryptoland . Elke in Cryptoland is een podcast van BNR, mede mogelijk gemaakt door cryptodienstverlener Amdax . Over de makers Presentatie: Elke van Boxmeer Redactie: Wouter Hoes Muziek en sounddesign: Gijs Friesen Montage en mixage: Wesley Schouwenaars Eindredactie: Manon van der Knaap-Hartig Scriptcoaching: Simon Heijmans Projectmanagement: Zegert van der Linde See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is my conversation with Vitalik Buterin, creator of Ethereum. Timestamps: (00:00:00) - intro (00:00:33) - the crypto lens on political philosophy (00:15:12) - the transition from the 20th to the 21st century (00:24:29) - sponsor: Splits (00:25:12) - the dimensions of uncertainty (00:46:14) - the duality between being idealistic and effective (00:58:46) - outro Links: Vitalik Buterin on X - https://x.com/VitalikButerin Vitalik Buterin on Farcaster - https://warpcast.com/vitalik.eth Vitalik Buterin on making sense in a changing world - https://www.intothebytecode.com/26-vitalik Vitalik Buterin on retroactive public goods funding - https://www.intothebytecode.com/1-vitalik-buterin-karl-floersch-retroactive-public-goods-funding Thank you to our sponsor for making this podcast possible: Splits - https://splits.org Sina: Sina Habibian - https://sinahab.com Sina Habibian on X - https://x.com/sinahab Disclaimer: this podcast is for informational purposes only. It is not financial advice nor a recommendation to buy or sell securities. The host and guests may hold positions in the projects discussed.

"If you’re a power that is an island and that goes by sea, then you’re more likely to do things like valuing freedom, being democratic, being pro-foreigner, being open-minded, being interested in trade. If you are on the Mongolian steppes, then your entire mindset is kill or be killed, conquer or be conquered … the breeding ground for basically everything that all of us consider to be dystopian governance. If you want more utopian governance and less dystopian governance, then find ways to basically change the landscape, to try to make the world look more like mountains and rivers and less like the Mongolian steppes." —Vitalik Buterin Can ‘effective accelerationists’ and AI ‘doomers’ agree on a common philosophy of technology? Common sense says no. But programmer and Ethereum cofounder Vitalik Buterin showed otherwise with his essay “ My techno-optimism ,” which both camps agreed was basically reasonable. Links to learn more, highlights, video, and full transcript. Seeing his social circle divided and fighting, Vitalik hoped to write a careful synthesis of the best ideas from both the optimists and the apprehensive. Accelerationists are right: most technologies leave us better off, the human cost of delaying further advances can be dreadful, and centralising control in government hands often ends disastrously. But the fearful are also right: some technologies are important exceptions, AGI has an unusually high chance of being one of those, and there are options to advance AI in safer directions. The upshot? Defensive acceleration : humanity should run boldly but also intelligently into the future — speeding up technology to get its benefits, but preferentially developing ‘defensive’ technologies that lower systemic risks, permit safe decentralisation of power, and help both individuals and countries defend themselves against aggression and domination. Entrepreneur First is running a defensive acceleration incubation programme with $250,000 of investment. If these ideas resonate with you, learn about the programme and apply by August 2, 2024 . You don’t need a business idea yet — just the hustle to start a technology company. In addition to all of that, host Rob Wiblin and Vitalik discuss: AI regulation disagreements being less about AI in particular, and more whether you’re typically more scared of anarchy or totalitarianism. Vitalik’s updated p(doom). Whether the social impact of blockchain and crypto has been a disappointment. Whether humans can merge with AI, and if that’s even desirable. The most valuable defensive technologies to accelerate. How to trustlessly identify what everyone will agree is misinformation Whether AGI is offence-dominant or defence-dominant. Vitalik’s updated take on effective altruism. Plenty more. Chapters: Cold open (00:00:00) Rob’s intro (00:00:56) The interview begins (00:04:47) Three different views on technology (00:05:46) Vitalik’s updated probability of doom (00:09:25) Technology is amazing, and AI is fundamentally different from other tech (00:15:55) Fear of totalitarianism and finding middle ground (00:22:44) Should AI be more centralised or more decentralised? (00:42:20) Humans merging with AIs to remain relevant (01:06:59) Vitalik’s “d/acc” alternative (01:18:48) Biodefence (01:24:01) Pushback on Vitalik’s vision (01:37:09) How much do people actually disagree? (01:42:14) Cybersecurity (01:47:28) Information defence (02:01:44)</l

01st April: Crypto & Coffee at 8 🚨 IMF suggest stablecoins and CBDCs 🟢 Vitalik Buterin ’s Ethereum’s scaling roadmap ⚡Base sets DEX record ❗ Sam Bankman-Fried update 🚨 The International Monetary Fund suggests that digital money like stablecoins and CBDCs could benefit Pacific Island countries (PICs) by improving financial inclusion and payment systems. They advocate for a two-tier CBDC model for PICs with existing currencies and mature banking systems, and foreign currency-based stablecoins for others, with robust regulation. While acknowledging the potential of private stablecoins like Tether (USDT), the IMF emphasizes the exploration of CBDCs by countries like Fiji, Palau, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu. IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva believes CBDCs can coexist with private money as a safe and low-cost alternative to cash. Info here https://lnkd.in/dT9NvG5N 🟢 Vitalik Buterin in a blog post on Thursday, March 28 titled Ethereum has blobs. Where do we go from here? outlines the next steps in the network’s scaling journey. More info here https://lnkd.in/dP4xQrwc . Following the Dencun upgrade on Ethereum’s Layer 2 chains, Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum’s co-founder, addresses the emergence of “blobscriptions,” which are inscriptions on blobs affecting scalability and increasing fees. Buterin emphasizes the transition towards focusing on Layer 2 scaling solutions after the foundational work laid by the upgrade. He mentions data availability sampling (DAS) as a key improvement to alleviate node workload and enhance blob space efficiency. Buterin also suggests exploring data compression and Plasma techniques for Layer 2 enhancements. Despite challenges, Layer 2 fees remain lower than Ethereum mainnet fees, and the roadmap for Ethereum’s scaling continues with the focus on Layer 2 improvements. 🚨 Coinbase ’s Ethereum layer-2 network, Base, has broken its 24-hour trading volume record on decentralized exchanges (DEX), soaring by approximately 25% compared to the previous day and exceeding $1 billion in trading volume. On March 30, Base saw a trading volume of $1.21 billion on DEX platforms, marking a significant increase from the previous day’s $959.63 million, as reported by Dune data. The majority of trading activity took place on Uniswap, which contributed 64.3% of the total volume, followed by Aerodrome Finance with 9.7%, and SharkSwap with 7.8%. Info via Dune-Data https://lnkd.in/dDif3GaY 🚔 Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison by Judge Lewis Kaplan of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Bankman-Fried convicted on seven felony charges including witness tampering and perjury related to FTX user funds. He’s the first person tied to FTX and Alameda Research to face prison time.