Vitalik says blockchains need new cryptographic technologies

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin said at a blockchain summit in Shanghai that blockchains need new cryptographic technologies, according to Wu Blockchain. Buterin said blockchain is evolving beyond a simple standalone ledger into a broader cryptographic network spanning Layer 1, Layer 2, the mempool, off-chain computation and structures in which multiple participants produce blocks together. Buterin added that advances in powerful data analytics and artificial intelligence are making the limitations of early public blockchains’ privacy models increasingly clear. Against that backdrop, technologies including SNARKs, STARKs, fully homomorphic encryption, or FHE, and formal verification are becoming key tools for privacy, scalability and security. Buterin also said zero-knowledge technology is moving beyond the long-term roadmap stage and is now being translated into concrete Ethereum Improvement Proposals, while AI is accelerating the development and verification of complex cryptographic systems.