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Buterin Warns Institutional Ether Buildup Imperils Ethereum’s Core as Quantum Threat Looms

Roughly $36 billion in ETH now sits with ETFs plus corporate treasuries, concentrating sway over protocol choices.

Overview

  • Speaking in Buenos Aires at Devconnect’s Funding the Commons event, Vitalik Buterin said institutional dominance could drive away decentralization‑minded builders.
  • He cautioned that performance‑first upgrades like cutting block times to 150 milliseconds would make home node operation unrealistic, pushing infrastructure into data centers.
  • Nine Ethereum ETF issuers hold over $18 billion in ETH, with corporate treasuries near another $18 billion, and analysts forecast institutions could soon control more than 10% of supply.
  • This week, BlackRock registered a staked Ethereum fund in Delaware, which the reporting describes as indicating intent to enter the staked ETH ETF market as its flagship ETH ETF manages about $10 billion.
  • He also urged readiness for a post‑quantum transition, warning that advances could threaten Ethereum’s elliptic‑curve cryptography possibly before the 2028 U.S. election.