Vitalik Buterin: A Sign of Ethereum's Maturity Is That It Can Keep Moving Forward Without My Involvement Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin @VitalikButerin said in an October 9 interview with Balaji Srinivasan @balajis at the Network State Conference 2026 that constantly being in the spotlight can be draining. On Ethereum's leadership and succession, he said decentralization is not about going from one leader to zero, but from one to many, and Ethereum is beginning to move in that direction. Vitalik said he looks for whether people across the Foundation and community can keep pushing Ethereum forward and defend values such as security and privacy without his involvement. He added that more people are now stepping up without waiting for him to speak first - a key positive sign in his view.