Vitalik Buterin Cautions Against Hasty Decentralization of Rollups

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has explained when L2 networks should transition to decentralization. In his view, there is no need to rush this process.

Here is a simplified mathematical model that shows when to move to stage 2.

Assumptions:

* Each security council member has an independent 10% chance of “breaking”
* we treat liveness failure [refusal to sign or keys inaccessible] and safety failure [signing a wrong thing or… pic.twitter.com/KM8EIZF9Io

— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) May 5, 2025

He believes a rollup is ready for decentralization only when its proof system becomes sufficiently reliable. The probability of failure should be lower than the risks associated with centralized management, such as collusion or errors by the security council.

Until this point, decentralization may paradoxically reduce security, as it increases reliance on a system whose reliability is not yet fully confirmed.

Buterin’s comments followed a discussion initiated by Loopring founder Daniel Wang. Wang highlighted the importance of code “maturity” and proposed introducing a BattleTested metric for protocols that have proven their resilience under real-world load and attacks, managing significant assets ($100 million or more) for at least six months.

Kronos Research analyst Dominic John agreed that rollup teams need to carefully assess related risks, such as common custodial weaknesses or geopolitical factors, before moving to full decentralization.

Mike Tyutin, CTO of PureFi, shares a similar view, noting the vulnerability of users with too early decentralization.

Meanwhile, Tezos co-founder Arthur Breitman pointed out another issue: some well-known L2 solutions in the Ethereum ecosystem, in his opinion, remain fundamentally custodial.

He believes that control over key logic lies with privileged structures, and relying on their incorruptibility is unreliable.

In 2025, Buterin intends to focus on developing the network’s core infrastructure and promoting decentralized ecosystems.