Vitalik Buterin talks Ethereum 2.0, DeFi, and community at ETHDenver

Speaking at ETHDenver on Saturday – an annual blockchain hackathon conference hosted in Colorado – Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin shared his views on decentralized finance, the development of Ethereum 2.0, and the Ethereum community as a whole.

On decentralized finance, Buterin stated that as it continues to grow, the simplest products will get the most users.

"I think the DeFi applications that see the most use are the simplest ones...stablecoins, synthetic assets, decentralized exchanges," he remarked.

On the topic of Ethereum 2.0, Buterin expressed his optimism for the launch date, adding that he "definitely think ETH2.0 has been preceding quite quickly and regularly in the last few months."

However, Buterin also notes that while Ethereum 2.0 is being tested and developed, new scaling solutions, such as rollups, are popping up that can provide some extra space for Ethereum to continue to grow.

"I hope that ETH2 gets released quickly...but even if it takes five years, rollups will give us some leeway until sharding [goes live]," Buterin says.

When asked whether Ethereum can survive without him, Buterin shared two views. From a technological perspective, Buterin said that Ethereum "definitely can" survive due to the influx of new researchers contributing to Ethereum. From a social perspective, Buterin was a bit more uncertain.

"I've tried to let the community debate," Buterin stated, adding that he has been off-hands for most debates in the community such as whether to unlock funds stuck in Parity's multi-sig wallet.

"There is definitely evidence that the community is able to resolve [its issues]," he concluded.