Vitalik: Crypto projects should prioritize a decentralized model to avoid excessive concentration of power and related risks.

On December 31st, PANews reported that Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin published an article titled "Balance of Power," exploring the relationship between power and checks and balances. Vitalik points out that many crypto projects, during their development, often focus solely on their "business model"—how to continuously acquire resources to support team operations—while neglecting the equally crucial "decentralized model"—how to avoid excessive concentration of power within the project itself and the potential systemic risks. He argues that in some scenarios, decentralization is naturally easier to achieve. For example, in language systems like English, or open protocols such as TCP, IP, and HTTP, the lack of a clear centralized control point makes it difficult for a single entity to monopolize dominance. However, in other use cases, decentralization does not occur naturally but requires conscious institutional and architectural design by the project team.

Vitalik emphasized that how to achieve the flexibility and efficiency of centralization without incurring its drawbacks will be a crucial challenge that the crypto industry must confront for a considerable period of time. He urged projects to rethink their power structures and make "decentralization" a design goal as important as their business models.