Vitalik Buterin just dropped a bombshell manifesto, again. Ethereum self-sovereignty returns in 2026, ditching a decade of sellout compromises for true trustlessness.
No more bowing to mainstream ease at core values’ expense.
Ethereum Self-Sovereignty Echoes Crypto’s Rebel Roots
Buterin’s call-back mirrors Bitcoin’s 2017 fork wars, where miners fought centralization creep, or Solana’s 2022 outages that exposed RPC trust pitfalls Ethereum now flips the script with ZK-EVMs slashing node hardware needs.
Analysts reported that activity grows too, new addresses doubled to 8 million monthly, transactions smashed records at 2.8 million daily, up 125% year-over-year.
Retention for newbies nearly doubled, proving users stick when the network delivers raw power without middlemen.
This pivot cements Ethereum as the world computer, scaling via PeerDAS and blob hikes from 15 to 21 post-hard fork.
2026 is the year that we take back lost ground in terms of self-sovereignty and trustlessness.
Some of what this practically means:
Full nodes: thanks to ZK-EVM and BAL, it will once again become easier to locally run a node and verify the Ethereum chain on your own computer.…
— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) January 16, 2026
Nodes and Privacy, AKA Taking Back the Wheel
Full nodes get easy again. ZK-EVM and Block Access Limits let your laptop verify chains without beastly rigs. Helios checks RPC data, so no more blind faith.
Privacy ramps up wild. Oblivious RAM and private info retrieval hide your queries from snoops selling patterns.
Social recovery wallets with timelocks? Lose your seed? No total wipeout, no Google backdoors.
Wallets bake in private payments, smooth as public ones. Dapps host on IPFS, dodging hacked servers or offline locks. That’s quite a line-up here!
The Backslide: A Decade of Ethereum Slip-Ups
Buterin lays it bare, nodes ballooned from simple to monsters. Dapps morphed into data-leaking giants phoning a dozen servers. And in the end, convenience killed sovereignty.
Every adoption trade-off? Done. “No longer,” he snaps, but he admits that it’s along road ahead, next forks won’t nail it all. But Ethereum eyes bigger turf, one step at time.
Love in the World Computer
Network’s hot, Fusaka scaling, blob boosts keep fees low for rollups. Vitalik wraps poetic, no overlords, no weak spots, just love powering the blockchain beast.
This ain’t hype. Ethereum sheds chains, luring users who crave control, so watch 2026, because the name of the game now is self-sovereignty or bust.
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Cryptocurrency and Web3 expert, founder of Kriptoworld
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With years of experience covering the blockchain space, András delivers insightful reporting on DeFi, tokenization, altcoins, and crypto regulations shaping the digital economy.
📅 Published: January 19, 2026 • 🕓 Last updated: January 19, 2026
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