Vitalik Buterin's Interview in Chinese: POS, Layer 2, and the Future Development of Ethereum

On April 7, 2025, Vitalik Buterin attended an event in Hong Kong. During the break, Yan, the founder of the DappLearning community, interviewed Vitalik, covering multiple topics such as ETH POS, Layer 2, cryptography, and AI. Below are the main points of the interview:

Thoughts on POS Upgrade

Vitalik believes that the prices of BTC and ETH are unrelated to POW and POS. The two communities are doing completely different things and have different ways of thinking. One problem that ETH faces is that even if there are successful applications on Ethereum, the value they may bring to ETH might not be sufficient. This is a question that needs to be thought through and continuously optimized, requiring more support for applications that have long-term value for ETH.

PBS Architecture and Centralization Concerns

Vitalik stated that this is an important philosophical question. New technologies such as ZK and DAS make building and validating blocks asymmetrical. The cost of validation may become very low, but the difficulty of building blocks may increase.

If there are some super nodes, we need to consider how to prevent them from acting maliciously, including 51% attacks, censorship attacks, and so on. Methods such as Attester node verification and the Fossil concept can reduce these risks.

This method is more complex than before, but it ensures the security and decentralization of the network.

The Relationship Between Layer 1 and Layer 2

Vitalik believes there are several issues with the current Layer 2.

1. The progress of security is not fast enough, and I hope to upgrade to Stage 2 this year.

2. The interoperability issues between Layer 2s need to be simpler, faster, and more cost-effective.

3. Some high-value applications such as DeFi are more suitable to be on Layer 1.

Therefore, Ethereum has begun to focus on the scalability of Layer 1 again, planning to enhance Layer 1 scalability through various methods by 2026, possibly increasing the gas limit by 10 times.

Ethereum Upgrade Plan

Vitalik revealed that the Pectra upgrade is expected to take place at the end of this month, and the Fusaka upgrade is planned for Q3 or Q4.

To accelerate the upgrade speed, Ethereum is taking measures to improve coordination efficiency, such as strengthening communication between teams and being stricter with the client teams.

Views on Cryptography and AI

Vitalik believes that ZK developers should focus on high-level languages (HLL) and do not need to understand the underlying details. The ZK RISC-V route is also good.

Regarding MPC and FHE, Vitalik is concerned that they require selecting node Committees, which may pose security risks.

Regarding AI, Vitalik believes it can enhance everyone's abilities, sometimes reinforcing centralization, but it also has a democratizing effect. AI can help bridge the gap between experts and novices.

Expectations for the Ethereum Ecosystem

Vitalik hopes that developers can think about:

1. There are many opportunities now that were previously unattainable.
2. Hope to see applications that have both real value and sustainable business models.
3. The resources available now are greater than before. If there are good ideas and they are executed well, the chances of success are very high.

Vitalik encourages developers to keep building, believing that the Ethereum ecosystem will continue to grow and thrive.