Ethereum Co-Founder Vitalik Buterin has raised a sharp warning about the blockchain’s future, saying the network could face “existential risks” if Wall Street giants like BlackRock continue to expand their Ether holdings at the current pace.
His comments came at the Funding the Commons event during Devconnect in Buenos Aires, where he appeared alongside Tor Project Co-Founder Roger Dingledine.
Dingledine asked Buterin a direct question many developers have quietly discussed in recent months: “How do you avoid capture by big behemoths like BlackRock?”
Buterin didn’t hold back. He said that institutional growth, especially after BlackRock’s Ethereum ETF launch, brings two specific threats that could reshape Ethereum in ways its early builders never intended.
Right now, nine U.S. ETFs collectively hold more than $18 billion in ETH, according to recent fund disclosures. Corporate treasuries control another $18 billion, and analysts expect institutions could soon hold over 10% of Ethereum’s supply.
This surge followed a series of Ethereum ETF approvals earlier this year, which pulled even more traditional capital into the ecosystem.
While this inflow boosted Ethereum’s legitimacy and price, Buterin argued that such dominance may force the network to prioritise institutional interests over decentralized values.
The first danger, Buterin said, is that developers and long-time contributors may feel alienated. If Ethereum evolves into a Wall Street-friendly infrastructure, he warned, the builders who value permissionless access may simply leave.
Losing that community would weaken innovation and decentralisation, core pillars that have supported Ethereum since its launch in 2015.
Buterin also highlighted a more practical risk, institutions could push for base-layer changes like 150-millisecond block times, which help high-frequency finance but make it nearly impossible for ordinary users to run nodes.
He warned that such decisions could centralise the network geographically around hubs like New York, undermining Ethereum’s global accessibility.
His comments follow earlier debates around MEV, Lido’s growing staking share, and the role of ETF issuers in governance, topics that resurfaced after the strong market inflows into ETH ETFs last quarter.
Buterin offered a clear path forward, Ethereum must protect what Wall Street cannot build, a global, permissionless, censorship-resistant protocol.
He encouraged the community to keep focusing more on decentralization than convenience despite the increasing institutional interest.