by Vincent Muthee
Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of the Ethereum blockchain, has called for the network to focus on low-risk decentralized finance (DeFi) for revenue growth rather than “actively unethical and embarrassing” meme coins and NFTs. Buterin argued that such protocols could serve as Ethereum’s true revenue driver, much like Google relies on its search business.
In a new blog post titled “Low-risk DeFi can be for Ethereum what search was for Google”, Buterin described meme coins and other speculative projects as “embarrassing” for a network built to deliver open access to finance. Instead, he believes low-risk DeFi can align profitability with Ethereum’s founding ideals while avoiding short-term speculative hype.
DeFi as Ethereum’s Long-Term Engine
For years, Ethereum’s ecosystem has faced a divide with high fee activities such as meme coins and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) generating revenue but failing to offer lasting value. At the same time, projects like Ethereum Name Service (ENS), Lens, and privacy-focused protocols advanced innovation but struggled to sustain the network’s $500 billion economy. However, Vitalik Buterin has the solution to this problem.
“This disjointness created a lot of dissonance in the community and a large amount of community momentum was backed by the theoretical hope that some application could emerge that fills both boxes at the same time,” Buterin wrote. “…It’s just not possible to say with a straight face you are excited about the ecosystem because it’s positively changing the world, if its single largest application is political memecoins.”
He further argued that low-risk DeFi offers the missing balance: sustainable funding for the network without sacrificing Ethereum’s social mission. Such protocols can democratize global access to payments and savings products, including major currencies, equities, and bonds.
Low-risk defi used to be constrained by regulatory barriers and smart contract safety risks. Both problems have greatly improved.
For many people worldwide, defi today is in some cases already safer than tradfi. pic.twitter.com/ZC9NKF2DbA
— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) September 21, 2025
Buterin drew a direct comparison with Google, pointing out that most of Google’s products – from AI models to open-source projects – generate minimal revenue. Search, however, became Google’s financial backbone.
“Ethereum has that application…low-risk defi, with a goal of achieving global democratized access to payments and savings in valuable asset categories,” he said, positioning low-risk DeFi as the protocol’s equivalent of Google search.
A Stronger, More Ethical Model
Unlike Google, which relies on advertising incentives that encourage data hoarding, Ethereum can couple profitability with social good through decentralization. Buterin suggested the Ethereum network could eventually expand into reputation-based undercollateralized lending, basket currencies, flatcoins tied to inflation indices, and even personal tokens. These, he said, would provide stability and inclusion for a global user base.
“Over time we can start moving the ecosystem toward other stable forms of value: basket currencies, “flatcoins” based directly on consumer price indices, “personal tokens”, etc. Both the low-risk defi we build today, and more experimental projects like Circles and the various “flatcoin” projects, are upstream of making this outcome more likely,” Buterin suggested.
In contrast to speculative trading, low-risk DeFi offers compounding benefits that strengthen Ethereum cycle after cycle. According to Token Terminal, lending protocols on Ethereum already host approximately $90 billion in user deposits. That base demonstrates the scale of adoption possible when financial activity prioritizes stability over speculation.
In contrast to speculative trading, low-risk DeFi is a use case that continues to compound cycle over cycle.
Today, lending protocols on @ethereum host approximately $90 billion in user deposits. https://t.co/g70eogJO4Z pic.twitter.com/rD5Zaxn6yL
— Token Terminal
(@tokenterminal) September 21, 2025
Buterin added that Ethereum’s decentralized design allows it to avoid the misaligned incentives that undermine centralized tech giants. By building an ecosystem where doing well financially also means “doing good” socially, Ethereum could outperform Google not only in revenue potential but also in ethical alignment.
#blockchain #crypto, #decentralized, #distributed, #ledger
