Vitalik Shanghai Speech: Blockchain Needs New Cryptographic Tools

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin said blockchain is evolving from a standalone ledger into a broader cryptographic network spanning L1s, L2s, mempools, off-chain computation, and multi-participant block building. As powerful data analysis and AI make the privacy model of early public blockchains increasingly insufficient, technologies such as SNARKs, STARKs, fully homomorphic encryption, and formal verification are becoming key tools for privacy, scalability, and security. Buterin said zero-knowledge technology is moving from long-term roadmaps into concrete EIPs, while AI is accelerating the development and verification of complex cryptographic systems. In the emerging era of “programmable cryptography,” blockchain systems can move beyond determining “who can send what” to determining “who can see what.”