Vitalik Buterin recently pointed out a significant change in the cryptocurrency market compared to the industry back in 2018-2019. Although many practical aspects have evolved, some fundamental principles remain constant.
Buterin noted that the revolutionary and idealistic visions of blockchain are still alive in response to Joe Weisenthal’s observation regarding the change in crypto culture. Weisenthal pointed out that, in the past, the cryptocurrency community had placed more emphasis on ideas like open internet governance, universal basic income (UBI) and blockchain democracy.
As of today, most crypto projects are related to memes or community developments for commercial gain. In response, Buterin pointed out that many of these concepts have made significant advancements and came to life. He listed a few projects:
We’re still here! And a lot of that idealistic open internet stuff has actually moved forward quite a bit, eg. we have farcaster and lens, quadratic and retroactive funding, zupass, privacy-preserving ways to send ETH, ZK voting implementations…
— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) June 19, 2024
Decentralized social networks like Farcaster and Lens are working to advance the idea of digital democracy by fostering a more accessible and user-controlled internet.
Funding mechanisms: The principles of Universal Basic Income (UBI) and Collective Benefit are in line with these funding mechanisms, which encourage equitable resource distribution and provide incentives for significant projects.
Zero-knowledge proof voting implementations boost voting privacy and security while promoting democratic system trust by utilizing zero-knowledge proofs.
The fundamental principles of blockchain technology — decentralization privacy and creative funding models — remain to propel advancement even in the face of the market’s present concentration on financial aspects, as Buterin’s observations highlight.
The community’s commitment to using blockchain technology for wider social and technological advantages is demonstrated by continuous development. The fundamental goal of building a decentralized, equitable and open internet is still very much alive and is getting closer to becoming reality every day.
