Vitalik Buterin: Excessive complexity is eroding the "trustless" foundation of blockchain

BlockBeats News, December 18, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin stated that the Ethereum blockchain needs to better explain its features to users in order to achieve true "trustlessness," which is a common challenge faced by all blockchain protocols.

"Trustlessness" means that the protocol operates solely through code and automatically enforces rules without developer oversight. However, if the protocol is so complex that only a few people can participate in its operation, then in practice, others still have to trust this group.

Ethereum itself already possesses trustless characteristics, as transactions and smart contracts are executed by open-source code and a decentralized network of validators. But Buterin pointed out in a post on X on Wednesday that the network still needs to improve users' understanding.

"An important but underestimated form of trustlessness is increasing the number of people who can truly understand the entire protocol from top to bottom. Ethereum needs to do better in this regard by simplifying the protocol."

When asked about the practicality of this idea given the trade-off between technical features and user understanding, Buterin said: "We should be willing to reduce some features at certain times."