Ethereum's price is down approximately 40% from its all-time high. The Solana platform is attracting coding talent at an unstoppable pace. Inside the Ethereum Foundation itself, tensions have emerged, most notably from co-founder Joseph Lubin, who called for new leadership capable of facing what he described as a radically different competitive environment.

Buterin's response is not just an attempt to change the public image, but a more assertive stance.

"Harvests" and Non-Negotiables
At the core of Buterin's 2026 framework is what he calls the non-negotiable essence of Ethereum: resistance to censorship, resilience, openness, privacy, and security — a set of principles he defines as clear boundaries that should not be crossed regardless of adoption pressures.

These are not new values for the Ethereum network. What has changed is the urgency with which Buterin defends them. He portrays 2026 as a direct reaction against the increasing centralization of the internet at large — a "rebellion," in his words, aimed at reclaiming lost ground.