Ethereum Faces Dual Threats From Institutions, Vitalik Buterin Warns of Decentralization Erosion and Harmful 150ms Block Time
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Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin warned at the Argentina Devcon that growing institutional holdings of ETH could threaten two key pillars: decentralization and core developer engagement.
The first risk is alienation of those who champion decentralization, potentially eroding the global open-source ecosystem. The second risk is misguided technical choices under external pressure, such as endorsing a shorter block time that benefits high-frequency traders but burdens node operators and fosters geographic centralization.
Buterin emphasized that Ethereum‘s mission remains a global, permissionless, censorship-resistant protocol, and urged preserving a strong core community and the values that distinguish the project from traditional finance.
COINOTAG News notes that nine Wall Street firms hold more than $18 billion in ETH, with industry observers cautioning that institutional exposure could approach double-digit shares of the total supply.