Vitalik Buterin has criticised what he called “pretend neutrality” in corporate culture, arguing that while decentralised protocols must remain neutral, the individuals building them should openly state their cultural and political principles.
The Ethereum co-founder said the network’s core value proposition is permissionlessness, stressing that users are free to ignore him, the Ethereum Foundation, or client developers entirely.
“You do not have to agree with my view that Berlin has the best food in Europe, suits and ties should be expunged from our culture, and YYYY-MM-DD is the best date format to use Ethereum,”
Buterin wrote.
Buterin drew a distinction between protocol neutrality and personal neutrality, arguing that while code such as HTTP, Bitcoin and Ethereum must remain censorship-resistant, builders retain the right to criticise projects they find objectionable.
“If I say that your application is corposlop, I am not ‘censoring’ you,”
Buterin explained, adding that free speech allows mutual criticism without enabling shutdowns.
He contrasted individual conviction with what he described as sanitised executive culture, saying the modern world does not require people to “put on a suit and claim to be equally open to all perspectives” while suppressing their own beliefs.
Comparing Ethereum to Linux, Buterin argued that building neutral infrastructure is insufficient without also developing a values-aligned ecosystem, maintaining that technological choices inevitably reflect underlying principles.
At the time of reporting, Ethereum price was $1,997.65.