V神 Proposal "Intent-Driven Security": Simulate Transactions Before Execution, Letting Crypto Wallets Understand What You Want to Do

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin recently posted on X platform proposing a framework called “Intent-Based Security.” He believes that security and user experience are essentially the same—both focus on ensuring that the system’s execution results align with the user’s true intentions.

How I think about “security”:

The goal is to minimize the divergence between the user’s intent and the actual behavior of the system.

“User experience” can also be defined in this way. Thus, “user experience” and “security” are not separate fields. However, “security”…

— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) February 22, 2026

Simulate Before Transaction, Review Carefully Before Confirming

Vitalik describes an intuitive mechanism: users specify the desired action first, then the system simulates the actual on-chain result of that transaction. After reviewing the simulation, the user can choose to “confirm” or “cancel.”

He states:

“Users specify the action they want to take, then see a simulation of the on-chain consequences of that action, and then click ‘confirm’ or ‘cancel.’”

In addition to transaction simulation, this framework includes extra protective layers such as spending limits and multi-signature (multisig) mechanisms. Transactions are only executed when the user’s intent, expected outcome, and risk tolerance are all aligned. The goal is to make small everyday transactions more seamless while encouraging caution for high-risk large transfers or contract interactions.

The Biggest Challenge: How to Define “User Intent”?

Vitalik admits that this framework faces a fundamental challenge—the definition of user intent itself is “extremely complex,” which is why a perfect security solution is impossible.

To address this, Vitalik proposes that users express their intent through multiple overlapping mechanisms, and only when these mechanisms’ results agree will the transaction proceed. This “multi-verification” logic aligns with his previous advocacy for multi-signature wallets and social recovery concepts.

The essence of “user intent” is an extremely complex object, and even users themselves find it difficult to fully grasp.

From Blockchain Trilemma to Security Upgrades

Security is a key aspect of Vitalik’s proposed “Blockchain Trilemma,” alongside decentralization and scalability. In recent years, Ethereum’s development focus has been primarily on scalability (Layer 2, sharding, etc.), but this proposal indicates that improving security and user experience is equally prioritized.

It is noteworthy that Vitalik has recently been vocal about wallet security issues. He previously stated that “hardware wallets are overrated,” advocating that most people should store assets in multi-signature wallets; he has also criticized the market’s “smart wallets” for being largely centralized and risky. This intent-based security framework can be seen as his latest iteration of his vision for secure crypto wallets.