Vitalik Buterin: Defi with a low risk is Ethereum’s Google search

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin said that Defi could be the most important income engine of Ethereum with a low risk, to replace his dependence on “embarrassing” meme coins and NFTs.

Such Defi-Protocols can finance the network and at the same time avoid speculative, short-term sources of income, so that it has been brought back into line with the ground goals, Buterin said in a Blogpost entitled” “Defi with a low risk can be for Ethereum which search was for Google.”

“It is just not possible to say with a straight face that you are enthusiastic about the ecosystem because it changes the world positively, if the largest application is political memecoins,” said Buterin. “Defi with a low risk, with the aim of making global permissionless access to payments and the best savings options possible, is a form of finances that changes the world positively.”

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin said that “Defi with a low risk” could become the core application of Ethereum, similar to how searches Google. He noted that Defi protocols are now safer and form a stable core, and that Defi with a low risk (payments, savings, synthetic assets, …

– Wu Blockchain (@wublockchain) September 21, 2025

For a while, the Ethereum network has confronted with a gap between apps that generate income and apps that fulfill the founding ideas. High fairy activity such as NFTs and meme coins raised income, but with little value in the long term.

In the meantime, projects such as Ens, Lens or Privacy Protocols were innovative, but could not maintain the wider $ 500 billion ecosystem.

“This Disalness created a lot of dissonance in the community,” said Buterin,

Such a gorge waited the community for something that could fit perfectly, and Defi with a low risk could be, said Buterin.

“Ethereum has that application, something that can be for Ethereum what was a search for Google: Defi with a low risk, with the aim of achieving global democratized access to payments and savings in valuable asset categories (eg large currency with competitive interest, shares, bonds), he said.

Ethereum has the potential to do much better than Google

Buterin’s analogy with Google is intentional. Most innovation from Google, from AI models to new programming languages, generates little income.

The many ‘interesting and valuable’ innovations, including the Chromium-Browser family, Pixel telephones and the Open Source AI Gemini models, only produce a fraction of the income that Google deserves from search and advertising.

Defi with a low risk was previously limited by legal barriers and smart contract safety risks. Both problems have been greatly improved.

For many people worldwide, Defi is today in some cases safer than Tradfi. pic.twitter.com/ZC9NKF2DBA

– Vitalik.eth (@Vitalikbuterin) September 21, 2025

Ethereum can perform Google better than

Ethereum even has the potential to surpass Google, Buterin said, not only financially, but ethically. The decentralized structure enables Defi with a low risk of aligning profitability to a positive social impact, creating a rare harmony between “doing good” and “being good.”

As soon as Ethereum has set up an adult ecosystem of financial and non-financial activity on the chain, it can investigate things like “on reputation-based undernight loans, which potentially is an even more powerful engine of financial inclusion,” he said.

Over time, he added, Ethereum can move the ecosystem to other stable forms of value: mandcurrents, “flatcoins” directly based on consumer price indices and “personal tokens,” he said.

Buterin criticized Google’s stimulation model and noted that the advertising income encourages the company to hoist user data, contrary to its original open source and positive-SOM spirit.

Related News:

Best Wallet – Diversity your Crypto -Portfolio

• Easy to use, with function driven crypto-wallet
• Get early access to upcoming token ICOs
• Multi-chain, Multi-Wallet, Non-requiring
• Now in App Store, Google Play
• Commitment to earn native token $ best
• 250,000+ monthly active users