Vitalik Buterin on proofs of custody
From 7. Proofs-of-Custody by Vitalik Buterin and Justin Drake (Ethereum Foundation) · · Ethereum Foundation
“It'd be nice if we could go beyond just honesty and we could start using rationality, so financial incentives to make sure that people vote properly. In particular when they vote on the availability of data, it would be nice if we could have some high level of confidence that they actually have the data that they're voting on.”
On , Vitalik Buterin, Cofounder at Ethereum, spoke about proofs of custody during 7. Proofs-of-Custody by Vitalik Buterin and Justin Drake (Ethereum Foundation) on Ethereum Foundation.
About Vitalik Buterin
Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, has been speaking at multiple events in 2026 about the intersection of AI and blockchain, Ethereum's protocol roadmap, and the concept of "sanctuary technology." At ETHMumbai in March, Buterin discussed the importance of CROPS (Censorship Resistant, Open Source, Private, Secure) AI, arguing that while local and open-weights AI models have improved significantly, the mainstream open-source AI ecosystem "by default does not care about" privacy and security. He expressed hope that Ethereum could become the ecosystem that creates safe, private AI packages. In a May interview with OKX Wallet, Buterin described Ethereum's role in the AI agent era as a "public billboard" and "on-chain computation layer" for multi-party coordination, rather than a traditional operating system. He noted that Ethereum will need stronger privacy, verifiable security, and minimal identity disclosure as AI agents interact on-chain at scale. In a May appearance on MTS Live, Buterin contrasted crypto's vision of safety with centralized alternatives, stating that "the vision of safety that we're competing with is basically let's trust the uncle in the sky" in exchange for privacy and agency. He reflected on his personal evolution from "living on autopilot" to actively shaping technology that enables human agency. In separate talks in Hong Kong and elsewhere, Buterin outlined Ethereum's five-year roadmap, emphasizing that Ethereum is "not meant to be the fastest chain" but rather "the secure chain, the decentralized chain, the chain that you can rely on." He highlighted plans to transition to ZK-EVMs as the primary validation method by 2028, improvements in quantum safety, and proposed EIPs including account abstraction (EIP-8141) to support smart contract wallets and privacy protocols. Buterin stated that Ethereum needs to "pass the walk away test," remaining reliable even if no core developers remain.