Simplifying Ethereum Key to True Trustlessness, Says Buterin

The Ethereum blockchain needs to better explain its features to users in order to achieve true trustlessness, a challenge common across blockchain protocols, says its co-founder Vitalik Buterin.

Trustlessness would see a protocol work without the oversight of developers, as it enforces rules automatically with code. However, if a protocol is so complex that only a small group can work on it, then in practice, others still have to trust that group. 

Ethereum is already trustless as transactions and smart contracts are enforced by open-source code and a decentralized network of validators, but Buterin said in a X post on Wednesday that the network still needs to improve user understanding.

“An important and underrated form of trustlessness is increasing the number of people who can actually understand the whole protocol from top to bottom. Ethereum needs to get better at this by making the protocol simpler.”

Asked how realistic the notion is, given the tradeoff between technological features and user understanding, Buterin said, “we should be willing to have fewer features sometimes.”

Last year, crypto executives told Cointelegraph that confusion around crypto storage, regulations, and other factors tech-savvy people take for granted could be keeping average users on the sidelines and away from the technology.

Better understanding needed across all protocols

INTMAX, a privacy layer 2 built on Ethereum, agreed with Buterin, and said the same principle applies to privacy infrastructure.

“If only five people can understand how your privacy protocol works, you haven’t achieved trustlessness, you’ve just changed who you trust. Simple, auditable privacy architecture > complex black boxes,” INTMAX said.