Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin addressed a full house at the Ethereum Community Conference (EthCC) in Brussels, sharing insights on the blockchain’s strengths and weaknesses and proposing enhancements to strengthen its ecosystem.

In front of an estimated 1,100 attendees, Buterin’s keynote focused on “hardening” Ethereum as a foundational blockchain. He acknowledged Ethereum’s strengths, describing it as a “large and reasonably decentralized staking ecosystem” with a highly international and intellectual community.

Addressing Weaknesses

Buterin pointed out key weaknesses in the Ethereum ecosystem, notably the difficulty of solo staking due to the requirement of 32 ETH to become a validator and the technical complexity of running a node. He reassured that these issues are “very addressable” and outlined a series of technical improvements aimed at simplifying the protocol.

Proposals for Improvement

Buterin proposed increasing the quorum threshold from 75% to 80% to enhance security and prevent issues related to chain finalization. He stressed the need for protocol simplification, stating,

“If you want a robust ecosystem, it needs to be simple. It should not have these, like, 73 random hooks and some backward compatibility because of some random dumb thing that this random guy called Vitalik came up with in 2014.”

Concerns Over 51% Attack

Expressing concerns about a potential 51% attack on the blockchain, Buterin highlighted the community’s assumption of collective action to counter such threats. He mentioned the complexities of coordinating a response to an attack and the importance of being prepared for future challenges.

Buterin concluded by emphasizing the importance of recognizing and addressing Ethereum’s inadequacies while building on its strengths.

“I think there’s value in really doubling down on these strengths, and at the same time, recognizing and fixing our inadequacies and making sure that we actually live up to our very high standards,” he told the crowd.

EthCC: A Platform for Ethereum’s Evolution

Buterin has been a regular speaker at EthCC, previously discussing challenges surrounding abstraction in 2023 and the Ethereum Merge in 2022. His continued engagement at these conferences underscores his commitment to Ethereum’s development and his role as an intellectual leader in the blockchain community.