Vitalik Buterin Chinese Interview: POS, Layer 2 and the Future Development of Ethereum

On April 7, 2025, Yan, the founder of the DappLearning community, conducted a Chinese interview with Vitalik Buterin in Hong Kong, covering several topics including ETH POS, Layer 2, cryptography, and AI. Here are the main points of the interview:

01 Views on POS Upgrade

Vitalik believes that the price fluctuations of BTC and ETH are unrelated to the consensus mechanism, but rather due to the different mindsets and approaches of the two communities. He pointed out that one issue facing ETH is that successful applications on Ethereum may not bring sufficient value to ETH. In the future, more applications are needed that support the interests of ETH holders and the long-term value of ETH.

02 PBS Architecture and Centralization Concerns

Vitalik stated that under the PBS architecture, the cost of validating blocks will become lower, while the cost of building blocks may increase. To reduce the risk of supernodes acting maliciously, Ethereum has adopted various measures, such as Attester validation and the Fossil concept. Although the architecture is more complex, it can improve performance while ensuring decentralization.

03 Issues and Future Directions Between Layer 1 and Layer 2

Vitalik believes that there are several issues with the current Layer 2: security progress is not fast enough, interoperability issues, etc. He proposed some solutions, such as the Open Intents Framework, the 2 of 3 verification method, etc.

Regarding the role of Layer 1, Vitalik stated that having no role at all is dangerous, and Layer 1 should take on more responsibilities. He introduced several solutions to enhance Layer 1 scalability, which are expected to increase the Gas limit by 10 times.

04 How to View Cryptography and AI

Vitalik believes that ZK developers should mainly focus on high-level languages, while the underlying algorithms should be optimized by specialized researchers. He expressed concerns about technologies such as FHE and MPC, suggesting that they need to be applied with caution.

Regarding AI, Vitalik believes it can bridge the gap between experts and novices, providing new opportunities for everyone. The combination of AI, blockchain, cryptography, and other technologies has a significant impact on society that deserves in-depth consideration.

05 Expectations for the Ethereum Ecosystem and Suggestions for Developers

Vitalik encourages developers to seize the current opportunity to create applications that have real value and sustainable business models. He hopes to see a healthy application ecosystem that lies between idealism and gambling.

Vitalik stated that everyone now has more resources than before, and as long as there are good ideas and proper execution, the chances of success are very high.