centralization

On-chain detective ZachXBT posted on platform X questioning Circle's attitude towards handling security incidents, stating, "History has proven that Circle is a bad actor." ZachXBT indicated that the SwapNet contract on the Base network was attacked, resulting in a loss of approximately $13 million USDC. About $3 million USDC remains in an address (0x6cAad74121bF602e71386505A4687f310e0D833e) that can be frozen by Circle, but no effective action has been seen so far.He further questioned that as a centralized stablecoin issuer, Circle did not take timely action to protect user interests after user assets were attacked, and asked why developers are still willing to build applications based on USDC, believing that its centralized risks and governance methods have already impacted ecological trust.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin recently proposed a "native DVT (Distributed Validator Technology)" solution at the Ethereum Research forum, suggesting that DVT be directly integrated into the Ethereum staking protocol layer to enhance network security while promoting decentralization at the validator level.According to the proposal, validators can register multiple independent keys and operate collectively in the form of "grouped validators"; only when a set threshold number of key signatures is reached will the block proposal or witness be considered valid. This mechanism can significantly reduce the risk of single points of failure or validators going offline due to node breaches, while still maintaining existing slashing protections under reasonable threshold settings.Vitalik pointed out that, unlike current DVT solutions that rely on external coordination layers and complex deployments, native DVT will be directly embedded into the protocol itself. Validators holding multiple minimum staking thresholds (32 ETH) can set up to 16 keys and specify a signature threshold, effectively allowing multiple standard nodes to collectively form a single validator identity. He noted that the additional performance overhead of this design is minimal, only adding one extra delay for block production without affecting witness delays, and is compatible with any signature scheme, helping to reduce reliance on long-term potentially risky cryptographic assumptions.On the decentralization front, Vitalik believes that native DVT will enable individuals and institutions to participate in staking more easily in a "self-custodial, fault-tolerant" manner, rather than relying on large staking service providers, thereby improving the decentralization metrics of the Ethereum validator set (such as the Nakamoto coefficient). The proposal is still in the early discussion stage and will require extensive evaluation and consensus from the Ethereum community moving forward.

Vitalik Buterin stated that he plans to fully return to decentralized social networks in 2026, believing that if we want to build a better society, we must have better large-scale communication tools. These tools should help people filter high-quality information and opinions, find consensus, and serve the long-term interests of users rather than maximizing short-term interactions and emotional conflicts.Vitalik pointed out that there is no "one-size-fits-all" solution to the above problems, but enhancing competition is an important starting point, and decentralization is the key path to achieving competition: by sharing a data layer that allows anyone to build different clients on top of it. He revealed that since the beginning of this year, he has started using decentralized social tools for reading and posting, with all content synchronized across platforms like X, Lens, Farcaster, and Bluesky through Firefly.He also criticized some crypto social projects for deviating from their original intentions, overly viewing "token issuance" as innovation, and attempting to create price bubbles around individuals to incentivize creators. However, practice shows that such models often reward existing social capital rather than content quality, and the lifecycle of tokens is short. Vitalik emphasized that money and social interaction are not inherently in conflict; the key is whether they truly serve the content itself, such as through subscription-based support models rather than speculative asset designs.In his view, decentralized social should be driven by teams that genuinely care about the "essence of social interaction." Vitalik acknowledged the Aave team's previous long-term maintenance of Lens and expressed anticipation for the direction of the new team, believing they are more focused on solving real social problems. He stated that in the coming year, he will speak more on decentralized social platforms and encourage more users to participate in ecosystems like Lens and Farcaster, breaking free from the information adversarial environment of a single platform and exploring new forms of interaction.

Vitalik Buterin posted on social media that 2026 will be a key year for Ethereum to regain lost ground in self-sovereignty and trustlessness. The plans include simplifying node operation through ZK-EVM and BAL technology, launching Helios to verify RPC data, implementing ORAM and PIR technology to protect user privacy, developing social recovery wallets and time-lock features to enhance fund security, and improving on-chain UI and IPFS applications. Buterin emphasized that Ethereum will correct the compromises made in the past decade regarding node operation, application decentralization, and data privacy, refocusing on core values. Although this will be a long process, it will make the Ethereum ecosystem stronger.

Huobi HTX has released a statement regarding the unilateral asset transfer by the Flow (FLOW) project team.Huobi HTX stated that on December 27, 2025, a protocol layer vulnerability in the Flow network led to a large amount of FLOW being illegally minted. After the incident, the platform proactively verified the situation with the project team to confirm whether there were any anomalies, and actively cooperated with risk management and on-chain tracking efforts. At the same time, the risk control and monitoring systems continuously tracked suspicious fund flows and took restrictive measures on identifiable hacker-related assets, making every effort to prevent further inflow into the market and protect the overall interests of token holders.However, the Flow project team unilaterally initiated the "Isolated Recovery" plan without fully communicating with the exchange and users, forcibly transferring FLOW assets from centralized exchange addresses, including Huobi HTX, through protocol layer permissions, and plans to destroy them on January 30, 2026.Huobi HTX emphasizes that the forcibly transferred and intended-to-be-destroyed assets include a large amount of FLOW obtained by ordinary users through legitimate market transactions. The actions of the Flow project team seriously deviate from the principles of decentralization and clear property rights, setting a bad precedent for the security boundaries of industry assets, and severely damaging the legitimate asset rights and interests of the platform and its users. Huobi HTX calls on the Flow project team to adhere to the spirit of decentralization, respect the legitimate rights and interests of users and exchanges, clearly distinguish between illegal minting and legal holdings, publish a complete and auditable post-event analysis, and resolve outstanding issues through active negotiation rather than unilateral technical means.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin published an article titled "Balance of Power," exploring the concepts of power and balance. Vitalik believes that more projects should clearly consider not only the "business model" (i.e., how to raise resources to support their work) but also the "decentralization model" (i.e., how to avoid the concentration of power within themselves and the risks associated with having such power).In some cases, decentralization is easy: relatively few people care about dominance. English, or more precisely, open protocols like TCP, IP, and HTTP. In other cases, decentralization is difficult to achieve because use cases in certain situations require conscious action. How to gain the advantages of flexibility without bearing its downsides will remain an important challenge for a long time to come.

According to market news, the main reason for the drop in AAVE prices this morning is due to large holders selling off. The second-largest whale address holding AAVE sold 230,000 AAVE (approximately $38 million), causing a temporary decline in AAVE prices.This whale exchanged all of its AAVE for 227.8 WBTC and 5,869.4 stETH between 5:40 AM and 7:05 AM. It is reported that this batch of AAVE was purchased from late last year to early this year, with an average cost of about $223.4. This time, it was liquidated at an average price of about $165, with expected losses reaching $13.45 million.Additionally, according to HyperInsight monitoring, affected by the temporary drop in AAVE this morning, the main long whale on Hyperliquid (0x074) has seen its unrealized losses expand to 176% today, with an average price of $189 and a position size of about $1.2 million. This long position was opened on November 16.This morning, it was reported that the Aave community will open a vote on the "Transfer of Brand Asset Control to Token Holders" ARFC proposal on Snapshot tomorrow at 10:40 AM, with voting lasting until December 26. Some analyses indicate that this proposal is interpreted by the market as a "decentralized measure to transfer brand assets to DAO management," which, while raising concerns, also partially alleviates future elasticity expectations related to brand assets, leading to a short-term repricing in the market.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin responded on the X platform to U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders' proposal to pause the construction of large AI data centers.Vitalik believes that the truly effective approach should be to prepare the capability to "cut 90-99% of computing power" at critical moments in the future, rather than just slowing down immediately; he also supports distinguishing between "super-large clusters" and consumer-grade AI hardware, and advocates for decentralized development.

According to Caixin, the China Internet Finance Association disclosed that as of November 30, 2025, a total of 217 supply chain information service institutions have registered basic information with the association. From the banking sector, it is learned that the outstanding scale of accounts receivable certificates issued by relevant institutions is close to 3 trillion yuan. For banks and other financial institutions, how to explore "de-core" financing remains to be breakthrough."De-core" refers to financial institutions reducing their excessive reliance on the credit of core enterprises, using digital technologies such as big data and blockchain, and taking real data such as transaction records, orders, logistics, and cash flows of enterprises as the basis for credit assessment, to provide financing services for small and medium-sized enterprises in the chain.

Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko stated at the Solana Breakpoint conference, "What I love most is that decentralization is not about the absence of leaders, but rather the rich emergence of leaders. Over the past five years, so many people have stepped up—people from the foundation, from Labs, as well as community members, builders of applications and protocols who are not part of these initial organizations—they have truly taken on leadership roles for the entire network.As it has developed to this point, I don't even have commit access on GitHub anymore, and it only took me two minutes to speak on stage. My goal is to sit in the audience—I feel that this means seeing the entire network truly mature and have its own life. I am very proud of this."

The U.S. SEC Investor Advisory Committee held a meeting on asset tokenization on Thursday, with executives from Citadel, Coinbase, Galaxy, and others discussing regulatory pathways. Citadel suggested that the SEC strictly define intermediary roles such as decentralized trading protocols, which sparked opposition from some in the crypto community who believe traditional rules cannot be applied to DeFi structures.Coinbase stated that the differences in rules should be examined on a case-by-case basis to avoid imposing inapplicable obligations. SEC Chair Atkins noted that a compliance pathway should be provided to promote the innovative development of tokenization.

ChainCatcher message, regarding the recent centralization controversy of Base sequencers, Vitalik stated that Base is doing things the right way: as an Ethereum-based L2, leveraging its centralized advantages to provide stronger UX features while still being tied to Ethereum's decentralized base layer to ensure security.Vitalik also emphasized that Base does not hold users' funds; they cannot steal funds or prevent users from withdrawing funds (which is part of the definition of L2beat Phase 1).

ChainCatcher news, according to crypto KOL AB Kuai.Dong (@_FORAB), Vitalik attended the Japanese Developer Conference. At the conference, Vitalik stated that Ethereum's short-term goal is scalability, which involves increasing the Gas limit of Ethereum L1 while maintaining decentralization.Ethereum's medium-term goal is cross-L2 interoperability, with faster response times. The long-term vision is a secure, simple, quantum-resistant, and formally verified streamlined version of Ethereum.