Interview with Ethereum Founder Vitalik Buterin: POS, Layer 2, and Future Development

On April 7, 2025, Vitalik Buterin was interviewed during the Pop-X HK Research House event in Hong Kong. Here are the main points of the interview:

Views on POS Upgrade

Vitalik believes that the price of ETH is unrelated to POW/POS and is more dependent on the application ecosystem. He pointed out that there may be many successful applications on Ethereum, but the value these applications bring to ETH may not be sufficient. The community needs to think about how to support applications that are beneficial to ETH holders and the long-term value of ETH.

PBS Architecture and Centralization Concerns

Vitalik believes that the PBS architecture makes block building and validation asymmetric. The cost of validation decreases, but the cost of building increases, which may lead to the emergence of some super nodes. He analyzed possible attack methods and explained how to reduce risks through design, such as the Fossil concept which separates transaction selection from transaction execution.

Relationship between Layer1 and Layer2

Vitalik pointed out that L2 still has room for improvement in terms of security and interoperability. He proposed solutions to enhance cross-chain transaction efficiency between L2s, such as the Open Intents Framework. At the same time, he emphasized that L1 still needs to play an important role, as some high-value applications like DeFi are more suitable to run on L1.

Ethereum Upgrade Plan

Vitalik revealed that Ethereum plans to carry out the Pectra upgrade at the end of April and the Fusaka upgrade in Q3 or Q4. He proposed solutions to improve upgrade efficiency, such as enhancing coordination between teams and being stricter with client teams.

The Development of Cryptography and AI

Vitalik believes that ZK developers should focus on high-level languages without delving into the underlying layers. He is cautious about the development of FHE and MPC, concerned about the risks of committee centralization. Regarding AI, he thinks it may narrow the gap between experts and novices, bringing a certain degree of "equalization".

Expectations for the Ethereum Ecosystem

Vitalik calls on developers to think about new opportunities and create truly valuable and sustainable applications. He hopes to see a healthy application ecosystem that lies between idealistic projects and pure gambling applications. Finally, he encourages developers to seize the current resource-rich opportunities, believing that good ideas combined with hard work are likely to achieve success.