Vitalik Buterin talks Cancun upgrade, AI, Crypto and social networking in Taipei

Vitalik Buterin talked about hot topics such as Cancun upgrade, quantum computing threats, AI and cryptocurrency, Ethereum re-staking, and decentralized social networking at the ETHTaipei 2024 conference.

He proposed a new conceptual framework "Rainbow Staking", arguing that decentralized social networking can solve the problem of network effects. He also talked about how Ethereum can deal with the threat of quantum computing, and believed that the combination of AI and cryptocurrency can bring multiple benefits. Re-staking is an interesting idea, but there are risks. More NFTs and Memes may appear in the cryptocurrency industry. It is recommended that new developers find a clear direction, actively participate in the community and make practical things.

At the ETHTaipei 2024 conference which opened today, Vitalik Buterin was interviewed by multiple media outlets and shared his views on hot topics such as the Cancun upgrade, responses to potential quantum threats, AI & Crypto, Ethereum re-staking, decentralized social networking, and made suggestions for non-native English speakers and new blockchain developers.

In addition, Vitalik Buterin also discussed the centralization risks of Ethereum staking and mentioned a new conceptual framework "Rainbow Staking".

The framework can integrate the correct interfaces of further "protocol services" in a plug-and-play manner, aiming at minimum viable issuance (MVI) and countering the emergence of dominant LST replacing ETH as the Ethereum network currency; enhancing the economic value of individual stakeholders by providing competitive participation in differentiated service categories; and helping to achieve SSF (single slot finality).

The following is Vitalik Buterin’s response to media questions:

Decentralized social networking

You seem to be more active on Farcaster than on Twitter. Can decentralized social applications like Farcaster really compete with Web2 social applications? Or can they subvert the social model?

BUTERIN: Yeah, I think one of the interesting things about social is that it has network effects, but it also has anti-network effects. Twitter is a platform that brings together all kinds of people, but it's also a place for really annoying people. I find Farcaster has accumulated enough users and is still interesting that I can get higher quality interactions on it, even though it's still a work in progress.

I think that Twitter may distinguish between high-quality content and people and low-quality content and people, and many people criticize these mechanisms, including management and Blue V certification, believing that they may become a centralized tool or privilege that serves specific views and specific groups.

The Crypto space and many non-financial applications, such as Ethereum, fundamentally solve this problem and try to solve this kind of trust problem. Decentralized social networking can really solve this problem.

Another important feature about Farcaster is that it is not a server, but a shared platform.

So, in principle, you can use your own client and your client can read or write the same content that all users on the network can see.

I think this could definitely be a place where people start experimenting with creating their own clients and adding interesting new features. For example, you could imagine people posting their own community notes on Farcaster, or posting various AI-based workshops or even predictions.

On Farcaster, you can imagine people creating their own mechanisms for identifying high reputation actors versus low reputation actors, etc. Different groups can have different approaches. All of these things can be done by different clients.

Another thing that excites me is that I think Farcaster is a really useful, slick, and simple app that is being used by non-crypto people. I think that’s something that a lot of apps haven’t done, and it’s setting a precedent for other apps of this kind.

Dencun Upgrade

How does the Dencun upgrade contribute to the Ethereum ecosystem? Is this upgrade better than expected?

Vitalik Buterin: The purpose of the Cancun upgrade is to significantly improve scalability and significantly reduce Layer2 (especially Rollups) transaction fees.

The upgrade does this by creating a separate space for data within each block that cannot be accessed by the EVM, which is important because it also means that when clients validate ethereum blocks, they don’t have to access that data at the same time.

We’ve seen Layer 2 fees drop significantly over the past week, and I need to caution that these fees will likely increase again as users and blocks increase, but this is still a fairly significant scalability-boosting upgrade.

Regarding the second question, it depends on your understanding of "good". From a technical perspective, the upgrade went well and better than any previous fork. However, usage is a bit low, the target is to include 3 blobs per block, but the average usage is only one blob. I think usage will increase over time, but for now it's really good news for Rollups because it will be very cheap, but I expect usage to increase in the coming months.

Quantum computing

How do you think Ethereum will respond to the pressing issue of the threat of quantum computing, and what implications does this have for the broader cryptocurrency ecosystem?

Vitalik Buterin: In terms of the threat of quantum computing, I think there are several aspects to consider.

First of all, the Ethereum Foundation is aware of the potential threat of quantum computing, and there will be some relevant standards and guidelines. From a technical point of view, we already have quantum-resistant algorithms for each field that is vulnerable to quantum attacks. For example, quantum computers can crack existing elliptic curve signatures, but we already have a variety of quantum-resistant algorithms, such as hash functions, Winternitz signatures, etc.

Another issue is how to deal with the impact of quantum enablement on the entire cryptocurrency ecosystem. In this regard, we need to make the Ethereum consensus layer quantum-resistant. There will be some engineering challenges because our current approach relies heavily on using efficient BLS signatures.

And any quantum-based approach is going to be even more inefficient. That’s one of the reasons I’ve been pushing for 8192 signatures first. We need to give ourselves more wiggle room to account for inefficiencies that may be required. In the meantime, researchers are working flat out to optimize, measure, and benchmark post-quantum alternatives.

In general, we need to consider multiple aspects comprehensively, including adopting quantum-resistant algorithms, adjusting the consensus layer, researching post-quantum alternatives, etc., to cope with the security challenges that quantum enablement poses to Ethereum and the entire cryptocurrency ecosystem.

AI

In your opinion, what are the benefits of combining AI with cryptocurrency? How will this reshape the industry? You discussed the role of AI in debugging code in February, can you provide more thoughts on how AI can be used in crypto and Ethereum?

Vitalik Buterin: AI and cryptocurrency are two very important technological trends in our time. There is a saying that AI tends to be centralized, while cryptocurrency is striving to be decentralized. There is a kind of complementary relationship between the two. But the question is whether we can move from this concept to actual application examples and use them in a way that is meaningful and productive for both.

One of them is the participation of AI in prediction markets and other types of markets on Ethereum, essentially making the market more microscopic and creating APIs that can play a role in them.

Another is to use AI as part of the wallet to help users understand the crypto environment they are interacting with.

The third is to use cryptography, including ZK, SNARK, MPC, etc., to embed AI to create secure, powerful and privacy-preserving AI models, making them central participants in on-chain applications, whether DApps or other forms such as Oracle.

And then the fourth is, if it's successful, it can be used for other areas of AI.

Of these applications, I think the first two are the most obvious short-term applications, while the second two are more speculative. I definitely don't want to give people the impression that the application of AI and cryptocurrency is going to be the next big narrative that drives the industry forward or something like that. But I do think these intersections are worth looking into.

Another application is that AI can perform rolling debugging of code. One of the biggest challenges facing the current encryption field is code errors and vulnerabilities. A promising possibility is that AI can greatly simplify the process of using formal verification tools to prove that a code set meets specific properties.

Re-pledge

What do you think about the Ethereum re-staking wave?

Vitalik Buterin: Restaking is indeed an interesting idea, but there is a risk that demand will be taken over by centralized players, and there are various systemic risks and impacts on the Ethereum validator set. I know there are some projects working on some different approaches, so far I am just observing this area and looking forward to seeing future developments.

What has surprised you most about the development and evolution of cryptocurrency? Where do you think the cryptocurrency industry will look like in 5 years?

Vitalik Buterin: The development of NFT and Meme tokens surprised me the most. The technical aspect is the rapid progress of zero-knowledge technology, which is much faster than we expected.

suggestion

Can you give some advice to new blockchain developers?

Vitalik Buterin: I think the most important thing is to motivate yourself to participate and continue to participate, and to really start joining and becoming part of the community. Finding a clear direction and then making something that is really "useful" is much more important than just thinking about it. You can also try to join this field by writing, which is a way to push yourself.

Do you have any specific advice for non-native English speakers to participate in the public goods ecosystem?

Vitalik Buterin: First of all, if you have a certain level of English skills, it is valuable to translate some content, and you can also aggregate some information, or actively participate in the co-construction of some protocols (communities), because many protocols are trying to welcome more participants from all over the world, or become voters or badge holders.