Ethereum Co-founder Vitalik Buterin Warns of Cryptocurrency's Dystopian Potential

In a recent feature for TIME, 28-year-old Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin expressed his concerns about the cryptocurrency world he had a hand in creating.

While cryptocurrency continues to soar in volume and in value, Buterin shares with TIME that he feels mixed emotions, experiencing both “pride and dread.” Buterin understands the consequences of Ethereum, which has made many unfathomably rich, while also pumping pollutants into the air. The digital currency has also aided and abated those who wanted to avoid tax, as well as became a vehicle for money laundering and scams.

Buterin said, “Crypto itself has a lot of dystopian potential if implemented wrong.” He also adds that he does see the dangers of “overeager investors” as well as the shameless display of wealth that seem to have a negative effect on crypto’s public perception, “The peril is you have these $3 million monkeys and it becomes a different kind of gambling.” The creator shares that he hopes Ethereum will do more good to the world than harm, explaining that he wants the currency to become the basis for sociopolitical experimentation that could include, “fairer voting systems, urban planning, universal basic income, public-works projects.”

He also expresses that he understands that his vision for the currency could be misconstrued by those who are greedy. So with reluctance, Buterin feels as if he now has to utilize his voice to shape the public’s relationship with cryptocurrency, “If we don’t exercise our voice, the only things that get built are the things that are immediately profitable.” Buterin spoke about his initial vision with Ethereum stating,

“The biggest divide was definitely that a lot of these people cared about making money. For me, that was totally not my goal.”

He added, “There were even times at the beginning where I was negotiating down the percentages of the Ether distribution that both myself and the other top-level founders would get, in order to be more egalitarian. That did make them upset.” When he started out, Buterin’s other founders wanted to take advantage of his naiveté to push through with their own ideas, “People used my fear of regulators against me saying that we should have a for-profit entity because it’s so much simpler legally than making a nonprofit.” Over the next few years, the other founders left the company.

Buterin also notes the inequities in the crypto community and realizes that “the ecosystem does need to improve there.” He also admits his disdain towards the dominance of coin voting, which allows wealthy VCs to make self-interested decisions with little pushback, “It’s become a de facto standard, which is a dystopia I’ve been seeing unfolding over the last few years.” Further in the interview, Buterin comments on the seeing “signs that are making it seem like crypto is on the verge of becoming a right-leaning thing.” To him, the worst-case scenario for crypto’s future is that “blockchain technology ends up concentrated in the hands of dictatorial governments.”

It remains to be seen how Buterin hopes to extend his vision of Ethereum over time and how he aims to shape the crypto world.

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