Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin used a thread on X on February 16 to restate where he sees the boundary between protocol neutrality and personal conviction. His point was direct: people do not need to agree with his views on DeFi, privacy payments, AI, or application design in order to use Ethereum. In his framing, neutrality belongs to the protocol layer, not to every person participating around it.
A neutral protocol does not require silent participants
Buterin said Ethereum, as a decentralized protocol, should preserve its permissionless and censorship-resistant nature, similar to core infrastructure such as HTTP and Bitcoin. The network itself should not filter users or decide who is allowed to build, transact, or connect.
He separated that principle from individual speech. A protocol can remain open while people still make value judgments about what is built on top of it. That includes criticism. Buterin wrote that he has no right to shut others down, but he does have the right to criticize them, just as they can criticize him. He presented that as the other side of free expression.
“Ethereum is neutral, but I am not”
The comments echo a line Buterin has used before: “Ethereum is neutral, but I am not.” The distinction matters because, in his view, decentralization means developers and users do not need alignment with him, the Ethereum Foundation, or client teams to build and transact on the network. A censorship-resistant system should keep functioning even if users ignore prominent figures around it.
He illustrated the point with humor, saying people can still use Ethereum without sharing his opinions on Berlin food, suits and ties, or the date format YYYY-MM-DD. The joke carried a serious message: protocol openness does not depend on ideological agreement with public leaders.
2026 focus includes anti-censorship at the consensus layer
Buterin’s remarks also line up with his broader view of 2026 as a year to reclaim user sovereignty and trust minimization for Ethereum. He said FOCIL (Forced Inclusion Lists) is expected in the first half of 2026, adding anti-censorship enforcement at the consensus layer so validators or block builders cannot systematically exclude certain transactions.
He also pointed to easier local node operation, onchain verification on personal computers, social recovery wallets, and stronger privacy protections. Taken together, those efforts are aimed at keeping Ethereum usable by anyone without approval from a central authority, while leaving moral judgment, public criticism, and personal principles to individuals and communities.