• Ethereum Founder Vitalik Buterin has announced that he is stepping back from decision-making at Ethereum
• This is to allow the platform to become more independent and decentralized ahead of the launch of Ethereum 2.0, or ‘Serenity’

One of the most anticipated offerings in the crypto world is Ethereum 2.0 which is slated to be released soon. This new version is touted as Ethereum with potential for more widespread use and is the next step in the growth of the platform. One step in the growth of the platform is, surprisingly, the stepping back of Ethereum’s founder, Vitalik Buterin, who says that his falling back is “a necessary part of the growth of the community.”

This was said to the MIT Technology Review during Devcon, the annual meeting put together by the Ethereum foundation.

Reduced participation

According to Buterin, the reason he needs to partially remove himself from Ethereum is that due to his own influence and decision-making in Ethereum, no single component of the platform could ruin the entire project.

Now, he feels, the community is essentially growing itself and so he feels the need to remove himself from decision making.

Based on the feedback Buterin has received on Twitter, the community is noticing and likes the change. He noted:

“There was even one comment that explicitly said that like, wow, it seems like the community is actually working together and isn’t just relying on a few people being in charge.”

Moving forward

While Buterin is formally talking about his movement away from decision making, Hudson Jameson of the Ethereum Foundation says they he is already “out of the decision-making in a lot of ways.”

He too feels that this is necessary to enable Ethereum to become an independent and decentralized entity.

“That’s something that I think is really important for the ecosystem to thrive and become more decentralized,” he said.

Of course, he is not leaving the platform – he will just try to be less of a central figure.

The moving of Buterin away from decision making isn’t the only change coming to Ethereum.

There are currently plans to move away from proof of work, a system that allows participants on the network to assert the validity of their information because it is too energy-intensive.

Instead, Ethereum plans to switch to Proof of Stake, a less energy-intensive system that was spearheaded by Buterin itself.

This will be featured in Ethereum 2.0, which Buterin had a huge hand in finalizing, though he says the work involved on his part is “a significantly smaller share of the work than I had two or three years ago.”