Vitalik Buterin calls for a philosophical shift in crypto: stop chasing tech, start building the right things.

Speaking at EthCC on July 3, 2025, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin drew a pointed analogy: just as the early internet grew partly through pornography, crypto's chaotic early expansion served a purpose — but that era is over. With the ecosystem now widely recognised, he argued that blind growth is no longer an automatic good.

Buterin's core message was a call for intentionality. Rather than pursuing blockchain technology for its own sake, builders should focus on achieving specific, well-defined properties — asking not just what can be built, but what should be built and why.

The speech signals a maturing self-awareness within Ethereum's founding community: the philosophical scaffolding that justified early-stage chaos needs to be replaced by something more deliberate as the industry scales into mainstream finance and infrastructure.