Vitalik Buterin Reveals Features He Regretted When He Built Ethereum

Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum, recently shared his reflections on the features he regretted when building the platform during a surprise appearance at the ETHBerlin event. Speaking to over 600 developers, Buterin discussed Ethereum’s initial design and offered insights into the future of the cryptocurrency, which now boasts a valuation of $448 billion. Despite Ethereum’s growing mainstream adoption, Buterin emphasized that its purpose is often misunderstood, unlike Bitcoin, which he described as “digital gold.” During the conversation, Buterin pointed out the flaws in Ethereum’s Virtual Machine (EVM), mentioning that the original EVM design used 256-bit processing instead of the more efficient 64- or 32-bit. He expressed remorse for the transition from Proof of Work to Proof of Stake consensus mechanism in 2022, believing that a simpler version of Proof of Stake could have been implemented earlier, thus reducing computing resources. Buterin also revealed that, if given the chance, he would use SHA-2 encryption instead of the current Keccak encryption in Ethereum.