Vitalik Buterin Warns Ethereum Faces “Unwieldy Mess” — Demands Protocol Cleanup Now

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin is warning that Ethereum risks becoming an “unwieldy mess” unless developers begin actively simplifying the protocol instead of continuously adding new features.

In a post published on X on Sunday, Buterin said Ethereum’s biggest threat is not competition but internal complexity.

An important, and perenially underrated, aspect of "trustlessness", "passing the walkaway test" and "self-sovereignty" is protocol simplicity.

Even if a protocol is super decentralized with hundreds of thousands of nodes, and it has 49% byzantine fault tolerance, and nodes fully… pic.twitter.com/kvzkg11M3c

— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) January 18, 2026

He argued that decentralization, trustlessness, and self-sovereignty lose their meaning if the protocol becomes so complex that only a small group of experts can understand or maintain it.

His remarks come as Ethereum is simultaneously posting record transaction activity and historically low fees.

Buterin Calls Out ‘Protocol Bloat’ in Ethereum’s Codebase

Buterin noted that even a network with hundreds of thousands of nodes and strong fault tolerance fails its core mission if its codebase grows into multiple layers of advanced cryptography that few people can audit.

At the center of his concern is what he describes as protocol bloat.

Ethereum’s development process, he said, has historically favored adding features while rarely removing old ones, largely to preserve backward compatibility.

Over time, this leads to a protocol that grows heavier, harder to reason about, and more fragile.

Buterin warned that such complexity undermines security, raises the barrier for new client teams, and weakens Ethereum’s ability to survive if current core developers step away.

To counter this trend, Buterin called for an explicit “simplification” or “garbage collection” function within Ethereum’s development process.

He said simplification should focus on reducing total lines of code, minimizing reliance on complex cryptographic dependencies, and introducing stronger invariants that make client behavior more predictable.

Buterin Outlines Plan to Strip Complexity From Ethereum

He pointed to past changes such as the removal of the SELFDESTRUCT opcode and transaction gas caps as examples of how carefully chosen constraints can make the protocol easier to implement and safer to operate.

Buterin also outlined larger-scale cleanup options, including moving rarely used or complex features out of the core protocol and into smart contracts.

Under this approach, legacy transaction types, precompiles, and even the Ethereum Virtual Machine itself could eventually be demoted from mandatory protocol components, allowing new clients to focus on a simpler core.

The broader goal, he said, is for Ethereum to pass what he calls the “walkaway test.”

That means reaching a point where Ethereum’s value proposition remains intact even if active protocol development slows or stops.

Ethereum’s Path Forward Draws Sharp Divide With Solana

In a January 12 post, Buterin said Ethereum must be able to ossify if it chooses, with all essential features already in place.

🚀 Vitalik Buterin declares 2026 the year Ethereum reverses centralization drift with technical shifts restoring self-sovereignty and trustlessness across nodes, wallets, and applications.#Ethereum #VitalikButerinhttps://t.co/IxoJdam8lj

— Cryptonews.com (@cryptonews) January 17, 2026

These include quantum-resistant cryptography, a scalable architecture built around ZK-EVMs and PeerDAS, full account abstraction, a secure gas schedule, and a proof-of-stake system that can remain decentralized for decades.

Buterin’s push for simplification has not gone unchallenged. On January 18, Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko publicly rejected the idea of protocol ossification, arguing that blockchains must “never stop iterating” to remain useful.

Yakovenko said Solana’s survival depends on continuous adaptation driven by developers whose livelihoods rely on the network, framing stagnation as a greater risk than complexity.

His comments come amid significant technical progress on the network.

Ethereum is currently processing close to 2.5 million transactions per day, while average gas fees have fallen to around $0.15.

📈 Ethereum is handling more transactions than at any point in its history while charging users some of the lowest fees seen in years.#Ethereum #ETHhttps://t.co/iRJ5gNsvVM

— Cryptonews.com (@cryptonews) January 19, 2026

Recent upgrades, including the Fusaka hard fork and adjustments to blob parameters, have expanded capacity and reduced costs, largely through increased layer-2 usage.

At the same time, Ethereum’s staking dynamics have turned sharply positive.

The validator exit queue has dropped to zero, while entry queues have surged to multi-year highs, showing reduced sell pressure and rising confidence in Ether as a yield-bearing asset.