Opinion: Institutions are challenging Vitalik's influence, Ethereum may be transitioning to a more "Wall Street-friendly" posture

By: theblockbeats.news|2025/11/20 15:45:59

0

Share

copy

BlockBeats News, November 20th, according to Arkham Data, Ethereum's founder Vitalik Buterin's ETH holdings currently amount to approximately 244,000 ETH (including AETHWETH), worth about 7.4 billion US dollars, ranking second in individual ETH holdings, second only to Ethereum ICO investor Rain Lohmus's holding of up to 250,000 ETH. However, his ranking faces a dual challenge from the Digital Asset Treasury (DAT) companies and spot ETF.

The three largest Ethereum Digital Asset Treasury (DAT) companies have surpassed Vitalik, with Bitmine holding 3.56 million ETH, SharpLink holding 869,000 ETH, and The Ether Machine holding 496,000 ETH. As for spot ETF, BlackRock holds about 3.94 million ETH, accounting for approximately 3.27% of the total supply, with Fidelity and Grayscale spot ETH following closely behind and continuously rising.

The community is beginning to worry that Vitalik's influence or governance power may be weakened due to the decrease in his holdings percentage. The founder's governance influence is crucial for the future development of Ethereum. Vitalik himself recently issued a warning at the Argentina Devcon conference, stating that if institutional Ethereum holdings continue to grow, Ethereum will face two major threats. The primary risk is the potential alienation of those who truly care about decentralization and core developers, leading to community attrition. The secondary risk is the possibility of making wrong technical choices; institutional pressure may drive improper technical decisions, such as a 150-millisecond block time that benefits high-frequency trading but hinders regular users from running nodes, causing geographical centralization. Vitalik emphasizes that Ethereum should focus on its global, permissionless, censorship-resistant protocol features, maintain a strong core community, and uphold the values that differentiate Ethereum from traditional finance.

-- Price

You may also like

AI Seating Chart Released | Rewire News Morning Brief

AI Seating Chart Released | Rewire News Morning Brief

Musk and Ultraman are not above

Is the era of Embodied AI's "GPT Moment" Approaching? Axis Robotics Announces End of Testing, Set to Launch on Base Chain

Is the era of Embodied AI's "GPT Moment" Approaching? Axis Robotics Announces End of Testing, Set to Launch on Base Chain

Axis's answer is yes - provided that a thorough reshaping of the scale-up production of robotic data is required, and a redefinition of the deployment paradigm in the physical world.

Meta Layoff Explained: On the same day as laying off 700 people, they handed out $90 billion in retention bonuses to executives

Meta Layoff Explained: On the same day as laying off 700 people, they handed out $90 billion in retention bonuses to executives

The money saved from laying off 700 people is approximately equivalent to Meta's 1.5 days of AI infrastructure spending

Binance Cracks Down on Market Makers, a Long-overdue Trial

Binance Cracks Down on Market Makers, a Long-overdue Trial

True accountability requires regulatory involvement, enforcement agencies, rather than allowing the exchange to act as its own judge.

Wall Street Collective Bearish on 2026, Will the Oil Crisis Trigger a Recession?

Wall Street Collective Bearish on 2026, Will the Oil Crisis Trigger a Recession?

「There is no middle ground; the result will definitely be one of two extremes.」

Hollywood's AI Necromancy: Death Is No Longer the End of Labor

Hollywood's AI Necromancy: Death Is No Longer the End of Labor

Post-Mortem Economics

a16z: DeFi Struggling to Support a True Financial Market

a16z: DeFi Struggling to Support a True Financial Market

More important than throughput is the determinism and fairness of transaction execution.

Morning News | Bitmine launches institutional Ethereum staking platform MAVAN; Franklin Templeton launches tokenized ETF; Morgan Stanley to issue and sponsor Bitcoin ETF

Morning News | Bitmine launches institutional Ethereum staking platform MAVAN; Franklin Templeton launches tokenized ETF; Morgan Stanley to issue and sponsor Bitcoin ETF

Overview of Important Market Events on March 25

Kalshi early employees: Whoever controls the traffic controls the market

Kalshi early employees: Whoever controls the traffic controls the market

Robinhood can decide where tens of millions of contracts go with the flip of a switch, while the exchanges do all the hard work but cannot control their own fate.

Tether signs contracts with four major audits, Circle's compliance moat collapses, stock price plummets by 20%

Tether signs contracts with four major audits, Circle's compliance moat collapses, stock price plummets by 20%

USDT, with a market value of 184 billion dollars, is undergoing its first comprehensive inspection in history.

Proudly Introducing Aethir Claw: Your AI Agent, Our Infrastructure

Proudly Introducing Aethir Claw: Your AI Agent, Our Infrastructure

Explore Aethir Claw, an easy-to-deploy AI agent solution that offers fully isolated VPS, encrypted payments, and highly competitive pricing.

Why Buying Gold Can Lead to Bankruptcy

Why Buying Gold Can Lead to Bankruptcy

"There is no issue with 'buying gold,' the issue is 'buying whose gold.'"

If the US Treasury yield rises above 5%, will Bitcoin drop below $50,000?

If the US Treasury yield rises above 5%, will Bitcoin drop below $50,000?

During the US-Iran war, as the bond market exhibited a **"meltdown"** scenario, Bitcoin's upward momentum is showing signs of exhaustion.

Circle Plunges 20%: Crypto Earthquake Triggered by Draft Proposal

Circle Plunges 20%: Crypto Earthquake Triggered by Draft Proposal

Compliance gave Circle both a suit of armor and a ball and chain.

After the Smoke Clears: 5 Possible Endings to the Middle East Conflict

After the Smoke Clears: 5 Possible Endings to the Middle East Conflict

The Crown Prince in Exile for Half a Century, Set to Return to Tehran?

Stablecoin Yields Discontinued, Circle Plunges 20% in One Day

Stablecoin Yields Discontinued, Circle Plunges 20% in One Day

Tightening Regulations and Increased Competition Lead Market to Reassess Stablecoin Business Models

AI Wired into War Machine | Rewire News Nightly

AI Wired into War Machine | Rewire News Nightly

Anduril and Palantir are collaborating on the development of the core software for the Golden Dome anti-missile system, with a project budget of $18.5 billion.

Web3 is sick, but the cure is not AI

Web3 is sick, but the cure is not AI

Encryption may have wasted too many years, and the current AI anxiety is merely a stress response of an industry that has overdrawn its narrative after facing external shocks.

AI Seating Chart Released | Rewire News Morning Brief

Musk and Ultraman are not above

Is the era of Embodied AI's "GPT Moment" Approaching? Axis Robotics Announces End of Testing, Set to Launch on Base Chain

Axis's answer is yes - provided that a thorough reshaping of the scale-up production of robotic data is required, and a redefinition of the deployment paradigm in the physical world.

Meta Layoff Explained: On the same day as laying off 700 people, they handed out $90 billion in retention bonuses to executives

The money saved from laying off 700 people is approximately equivalent to Meta's 1.5 days of AI infrastructure spending

Binance Cracks Down on Market Makers, a Long-overdue Trial

True accountability requires regulatory involvement, enforcement agencies, rather than allowing the exchange to act as its own judge.

Wall Street Collective Bearish on 2026, Will the Oil Crisis Trigger a Recession?

「There is no middle ground; the result will definitely be one of two extremes.」

Hollywood's AI Necromancy: Death Is No Longer the End of Labor

Post-Mortem Economics

Popular coins

Latest Crypto News

12:42

Citi: Investors are overly optimistic that the US-Iran issue will soon be resolved

Citi's Chief Investment Officer, Kate Moore, believes that investors seem overly optimistic, thinking that the U.S.-Iran issue is about to be resolved. She stated on Wednesday, "Some of the price fluctuations we've experienced, especially in the last two days, actually indicate that people have a gr...

12:42

S&P 500 futures recover from losses, Nasdaq futures rise 0.1%

According to Jinshi reports, the S&P 500 index futures recovered from losses to remain flat, while the Nasdaq index futures rose by 0.1%.

12:42

Texas judge dismisses a cryptocurrency developer's request for an exemption from the money transmission laws for its software

According to Cointelegraph, a court in Texas, USA, dismissed a lawsuit filed by crypto developer Michael Lewellen. Lewellen sought a declaratory judgment from the court, stating that his developed software Pharos (used for donating to charitable crowdfunding activities) would not be prosecuted for v...

12:42

Data: Most of the cryptocurrency market is up, with the Meme sector rising by 5.09%, while only the GameFi and PayFi sectors are down

According to SoSoValue data, the overall trend of the cryptocurrency market is a moderate upward trend, with the Meme sector performing outstandingly, rising 5.09% in 24 hours. Among them, MemeCore (M) increased by 37.67%, and Siren (SIREN) surged again by 27.16%. At the same time, Bitcoin (BTC) ros...

12:42

Data: If BTC breaks through 74,389 USD, the cumulative short liquidation intensity on mainstream CEX will reach 1.578 billion USD

According to Coinglass data, if BTC breaks through $74,389, the cumulative short liquidation intensity on mainstream CEX will reach $1.578 billion. Conversely, if BTC falls below $67,789, the cumulative long liquidation intensity on mainstream CEX will reach $1.506 billion.