Vitalik Declares 2026 the Year of Ethereum's Sovereignty Restoration

Ethereum (ETH) co-founder Vitalik Buterin, on January 17th, announced on platform X that 2026 will be the year to regain the lost ground of sovereignty and decentralization for the Ethereum blockchain.

He stated, '2026 will be the year we reclaim the lost ground in sovereignty and trustlessness,' and expressed his intention to initiate efforts to reverse the erosion of individual autonomy in cryptocurrencies.

As specific measures for improvement, Buterin mentioned making the operation of ZK-EVM and BAL (Blockchain Access Layer technology) full nodes easier again. He also plans to utilize the lightweight client Helios to enhance reception from RPC...