Vitalik Buterin Pushes Native DVT Staking, Calls for New DAO Models, and Backs Decentralized Social Media Shift

Ethereum co-founder outlines protocol-level staking changes, governance redesign, and personal move away from centralized social platforms

TL;DR

• Vitalik Buterin proposed native Distributed Validator Technology for Ethereum staking, allowing up to 16 keys per validator with threshold signing and minimal latency impact.
• He criticized token-holder DAO voting as inefficient, calling for “different and better DAOs” using zero-knowledge proofs and AI to address privacy and decision fatigue.
• Buterin said he is moving fully back to decentralized social media in 2026, as Farcaster and Lens Protocol change hands.

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Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin outlined multiple structural changes across Ethereum staking, DAO governance, and decentralized social media during a series of public statements and forum posts released between January 19 and January 22, 2026. The comments and proposals span protocol-level validator design, governance architecture, and personal platform usage, with each tied to specific technical limitations he said persist across the crypto ecosystem as of early 2026.

Vitalik Buterin published a proposal on the Ethereum Research forum describing a plan to integrate native Distributed Validator Technology directly into Ethereum’s staking protocol. The proposal allows a single validator to register multiple independent signing keys that collectively operate as one validator identity. Actions such as block proposals and attestations would only be valid if a threshold number of keys sign, rather than relying on a single node or machine, according to the post dated January 19, 2026.

Buterin wrote, “DVT is a way for Ethereum stakers to stake without fully relying on one single node,” adding that validator operations would remain correct “as long as more than two-thirds of the nodes are honest.” The design permits validators holding multiples of the minimum required stake to specify up to 16 keys along with a signing threshold, effectively running several standard nodes as one grouped validator identity.

The proposal specifies that the native DVT design would add only one extra round of latency for block production and introduce no additional delay for attestations. Buterin stated the approach would remain compatible with any signature scheme and avoid reliance on cryptographic assumptions that could be vulnerable over the long term. Slashing protections would remain intact under appropriate threshold configurations, according to the Ethereum Research post.

Separately, on January 19, 2026, Buterin called for a fundamental redesign of decentralized autonomous organizations, criticizing the dominant token-holder voting model used by most DAOs. “We need more DAOs — but different and better DAOs,” he wrote in a public post on X. He said current DAO structures are inefficient and fail to address weaknesses in human political decision-making.

Buterin said many DAOs rely on treasuries controlled by token-holder voting, which he described as functional but vulnerable to capture, manipulation, and decision fatigue. He said these limitations have led to growing cynicism around DAOs. He argued that improved DAO designs must address privacy concerns and cognitive overload, proposing the use of zero-knowledge technology and AI-assisted mechanisms.

He also identified oracle infrastructure as a critical weakness. “Today, decentralized stablecoins, prediction markets, and other basic building blocks of DeFi are built on oracle designs that we are not satisfied with,” Buterin said. He said better oracle systems are required to support more effective decentralized governance and financial applications.

On January 22, 2026, Buterin said he is moving fully back to decentralized social media platforms during 2026, coinciding with ownership changes at Farcaster and Lens Protocol. He encouraged users to remain engaged with decentralized social platforms despite ongoing transitions and early-stage challenges, according to comments published the same day.

In a public post, Buterin criticized centralized social media dynamics, describing them as “everyone constantly tweeting inside a single global info warzone.” He said mass communication tools should instead serve users’ long-term interests rather than engagement-driven incentives. His comments were released as both Farcaster and Lens Protocol underwent leadership and ownership changes in January 2026.

This article has been refined and enhanced by ChatGPT.