Vitalik Buterin says apps must be sustainable and decentralized

Vitalik Buterin, the guy who co-created Ethereum, is setting the record straight about the future of crypto applications. He’s not here for temporary hype or flashy projects with no real backbone. 

What he wants are apps that stick around, do something meaningful, and don’t bend over backwards to accommodate centralized control. In his own words:

“The kinds of applications that I want to see are applications that are useful in a sustainable way and don’t sacrifice on the principles of decentralization.”

Vitalik also thinks that decentralized stablecoins like RAI serve a purpose without giving up on decentralization. He even has some love for decentralized betting platform Polymarket. 

But when it comes to USDC, he’s less enthusiastic. It’s convenient, sure, especially for stuff like international donations. But compared to decentralized alternatives, it falls short.

Vitalik criticizes the yield farming craze that blew up in 2021. Remember all the hype about high returns from parking your coins in certain projects? Vitalik wasn’t buying it. 

To him, it was obvious these were just temporary pumps driven by token issuances with no real long-term plan. When someone pitches him a project with great yields, he cuts right to the chase: 

“Where does the yield come from? Who are the people on the other side of the transaction, who are paying the yield?”

If he doesn’t get a solid answer, he’s not interested. He’s only excited about projects that can clearly demonstrate they’ll still be viable five years from now. Everything else is just noise.

Vitalik isn’t just focused on finance. He’s got his eyes on the bigger picture. According to him, “finance isn’t enough.” Sure, decentralizing money is great, but what about the rest of the tech world? 

There are plenty of other areas where centralization is a growing threat. He talks about political attacks on encrypted messaging and centralized identity systems and credit scores. 

He mentions the backdoors in insecure operating systems and the way social media platforms are becoming more centralized and opaque. 

“There are so many centralization points that are rapidly growing and threats in the world’s technology today.”

He doesn’t stop there. Vitalik points out how a handful of powerful countries are gaining more control over who gets to stay online and who doesn’t. Then there’s the risk of surveillance and economic domination from centralized AI systems. 

And let’s not forget the potential dangers of mind-reading tech, or brain-computer interfaces (BCIs), that could be on the horizon soon. His point is even if we make decentralized finance perfect, we’re still screwed if we don’t address these other issues.