Vitalik Buterin: The Ethereum Foundation will focus on a DeFi system centered on security, decentralization, and user autonomy

Vitalik Buterin has stated that DeFi is an important part of Ethereum’s core value. The Ethereum Foundation (EF) will focus on supporting a global financial system that is permissionless, open-source, privacy-first, security-first, decentralized, and enhances user asset control while reducing centralization risks, rather than indiscriminately supporting “on-chain finance.” He pointed out that future DeFi should not only improve superficial products like stablecoins but also conduct systematic innovation around fundamental issues such as risk management and future expenditure hedging. Additionally, protocols should have the “walkaway test” capability, meaning they can continue to operate sustainably even if the original team disappears or fails. EF’s key areas include improving security through audits and standards, introducing AI-assisted formal verification and user-side proxy protections, strengthening oracle security and decentralization, advancing privacy payments and privacy in complex financial scenarios, and improving DeFi’s open-source licensing and forkability.