Ethereum’s Hidden Power Structure: Ex-Developer Reveals Buterin’s ’Complete Indirect Control’ Over Ecosystem
Ethereum's decentralized facade cracks as former core developer exposes the real power dynamics behind the world's second-largest blockchain.
The Buterin Influence Machine
Vitalik Buterin maintains complete indirect control over Ethereum's development roadmap despite stepping back from daily operations. His philosophical framework and early architectural decisions continue steering the ecosystem's direction years later.
Developer Exodus Accelerates
Multiple core contributors have departed citing centralized influence in what appears to be decentralized clothing. The exodus raises questions about whether any major blockchain can truly escape founder dominance.
Governance Theater
Community voting mechanisms and improvement proposals often rubber-stamp pre-determined outcomes influenced by Buterin's technical preferences and public statements. It's democracy with training wheels—and someone else holding the handlebars.
Meanwhile, traditional finance executives pretend their quarterly earnings calls represent transparent governance while manipulating guidance behind closed doors. At least crypto's power struggles happen in public view.
The revelation forces a reckoning: if decentralization's poster child operates through soft power and inherited influence, what hope do newer projects have of breaking the pattern?
