Buterin calls on Ethereum to build “Tech Sanctuary” against digital surveillance

Vitalik Buterin defines “sacred technology” as digital islands that are resistant to political and corporate pressure.

Vitalik Buterin proposed positioning Ethereum as part of a larger ecosystem of “shelter technologies”.

He described these as free and open-source tools that allow people to live, work, communicate and collaborate in ways that are resistant to external pressures.

Vision Buterin

Ethereum’s founder noted in a social media post that the goal is to create digital islands of stability, reducing the stakes of power struggles and interdependence that cannot be weaponized. It’s a response to the concerns he’s had over the past year about increased government surveillance and control, wars, the rise of corporate power, the decline in quality in major technology platforms, the transformation of social media into a battlefield of memory, and the rise of AI and how it interacts with these forces.

Buterin also stated that people feel that Ethereum has not improved the lives of people facing these pressures in areas that society cares about, such as freedom, privacy, digital security and community self-governance.

In response, he proposed shelter technologies as a practical solution to the situation. Rather than trying to dominate existing systems, these tools allow individuals and institutions to operate in ways that are not vulnerable to external pressure. Ethereum contributes to this vision by creating a shared digital space without ownership, where people can coordinate and build sustainable social and economic structures.

However, he explained that this approach is not about remaking the world in the image of the network, nor is it about forcing all finance onto blockchains or transferring all governance to decentralized structures.

Instead, Buterin described the goal as “de-totalization,” which means reducing the risk that any winner in a global power struggle will gain complete control over the others, as well as reducing the chance of total defeat.

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Limitations of Ethereum

This post also addresses the idea that Ethereum should focus solely on finance. Although Buterin acknowledged that financial freedom is important, he said that it alone cannot solve broader issues such as power, control and social fragmentation.

He added that the chain cannot fix the world on its own, and that trying to do so would require a level of centralized power that goes against the principles of a decentralized society. Its strength lies in the creation of persistent digital structures that form the basis of his idea of ​​sheltering technologies.

The Ethereum founder cited examples of what he sees as liberating technologies, including Starlink, large-scale language models, signaling and community notes.

He is calling for transparency and coordination across the entire technology stack, from wallets and applications to operating systems and hardware, while focusing on the users who really need the shelter technologies and working with allies inside and outside the crypto sector.