“Do more to achieve stated goals”: ​​Vitalik Buterin’s 2026 mandate for Ethereum price

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Ethereum
ETH

$3,129.93


2.00%

Ethereum
ETH


Price

$3,129.93

2.00% /24h





Volume in 24 hours

$17.56 billion



Price 7d

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for the most part, does what it promises; nothing less, nothing more. However, it appears that ETH founder Vitalik Buterin believes that foundations have not done enough.

Buterin is launching a challenge at the end of 2025, and it is about whether ETH moves away from its original goal.

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Welcome to 2026! Milady is back.

Ethereum did a lot in 2025: gas limits increased, blob counts increased, node software quality improved, zkEVMs hit their performance milestones, and with zkEVM and PeerDAS, Ethereum took its biggest step towards becoming fundamentally…

– vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) January 1, 2026

In his New Year’s message, Vitalik Buterin urged developers to stop following short-term trends and start creating applications that are both usable at scale and truly decentralized. Ethereum, he argued, is meant to function as a “world computer” it is not a slightly more open version of the subscription platforms that dominate Big Tech.

Hm, is anyone feeling pessimistic upon hearing this?

Buterin emphasized that decentralized applications should pass what he calls the “exit test.” If the original developers disappear, the app should still work without censorship, fraud, or third-party controllers.

“To achieve this, it must be usable at scale and truly decentralized,” said Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum. “Applications should continue to work even if the original developers leave,” he added.

The subtext is clear: too many Ethereum applications still rely on centralized infrastructure while presenting themselves as trustless.

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Have Ethereum Upgrades in 2025 Quietly Changed the Game?

In 2025, the Ethereum community has quietly built a better protocol. The Pectra upgrade increased throughput and streamlined the operation of accounts and validators. Fusaka closed the year by increasing data availability through PeerDAS.

Yet the market barely noticed. Ether ended the year near $3,000, well below the narrative highs expected by many.

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Data tells the ETH story, but price charts don’t

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Ethereum
ETH

$3,129.93


2.00%

Ethereum
ETH


Price

$3,129.93

2.00% /24h





Volume in 24 hours

$17.56 billion



Price 7d

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On-chain metrics help explain Ethereum’s disconnect. According to CoinGecko, Ether has underperformed several of its large-cap peers in 2025 despite consistent development activity. DeFi Llama shows that the total value locked on Ethereum remains relatively stable, suggesting that builders stayed while hot money rotated elsewhere.

Meanwhile, Glassnode data indicates that long-term holders remain largely indifferent, even as short-term traders have lost interest.

As it stands, Ethereum is caught in an identity crisis. The price of ETH is trading near its lowest level in several months and debates over its future are ongoing.

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