- Vitalik Buterin has signed the new “Trustless Manifesto,” a direct rebuke of rising “convenience centralization” within the Ethereum ecosystem via relayers.
- The manifesto, co-authored by Marissa Posner and Yoav Weiss, states Ethereum’s success is measured by “trust reduced per transaction,” not “transactions per second.”
- The move re-centers Ethereum’s cypherpunk ethos as TradFi enters and coincides with a16z’s push for “trustless” ZKP digital identities.
Vitalik Buterin signed the Trustless Manifesto on Nov 13 and shared the link, establishing a public pledge that tells Ethereum teams to rely on math and consensus, not intermediaries. The move sets an immediate standard for relayers, sequencers, hosted nodes, and oracle pipelines as L2 UX and identity products ship into year-end.
Related: Is Cypherpunk’s “encrypted Bitcoin” thesis a revival of privacy in crypto?
The Manifesto: ‘Trust Reduced Per Transaction,’ Not TPS
The manifesto was authored by Buterin in collaboration with Marissa Posner and Yoav Weiss. It directly addresses the next growth phase of Ethereum. According to the text, Ethereum was not created simply to make finance “efficient,” but to build global communities without trusting any intermediary.
“We do not outsource neutrality to anyone who can be bribed, coerced, or shut down.
We measure success not by transactions per second, but by trust reduced per transaction,” the manifesto noted.
The document urges Ethereum developers to build protocols that are open and self-sovereign. It poetically warns users to avoid protocols that advocate “faith in intermediaries,” even if they offer an enhanced user experience (UX).
“In the end, the world does not need more efficient middlemen. It needs fewer reasons to trust them,” the account abstraction team added.
Why it Matters Now
A Rebuke to ‘Convenience Centralization’
This call to action comes as the Ethereum network, which secures $77.9 billion in Total Value Locked (TVL), faces increasing political influence.
The enactment of the GENIUS Act in the United States has accelerated the onboarding of institutional investors. These TradFi institutions have historically thrived on centralized models where users are forced to trust without verifying.
The Trustless Manifesto serves as a direct rebuke to this trend. It is part of a broader “trustless” movement, which includes a16z’s recent push for the U.S. Treasury to adopt decentralized digital identity.
a16z argued that privacy-enhancing technologies like Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZKP) are key to building “trustless” protocols. This, they claim, gives users ultimate power over their personal data.
Related: a16z Lobbies FinCEN to Adopt ‘Privacy-First’ ZKP Identity for National Security
The Competitive Angle: Re-Centering the Ethos
The Ethereum core developers’ adoption of the manifesto also serves a competitive purpose. In the past few years, several Layer-1 chains have emerged as “Ethereum killers,” led by Solana (SOL) and Cardano (ADA).
With this new manifesto, the Ethereum network is rekindling the original blockchain ethos. It is re-committing to permissionless access and privacy, aiming to differentiate itself not just on speed, but on its core “trustless” architecture.
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Source: https://coinedition.com/vitalik-buterin-signs-trustless-manifesto-rebukes-convenience-centralization/
