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Vitalik Buterin Recasts Ethereum as a Global Public Data Layer

PeerDAS progress with lower fees now enables practical, data‑centric uses, he says.

Overview

  • After Real World Crypto, Buterin describes Ethereum as censorship‑resistant “global shared memory” — a public bulletin board for posting and verifying data.
  • He says the PeerDAS upgrade already lifts data capacity by about 2.3x with a roadmap targeting 10–100x gains.
  • Ether’s core utility, he argues, is economic Sybil resistance and anti‑spam, including small payments for open services and security deposits that can be burned for violations.
  • Many computations can run off‑chain with zero‑knowledge proofs verified on‑chain, positioning smart contracts primarily for coordination and standardization.
  • Use cases such as voting, identity, and permissionless APIs are presented as increasingly viable as scaling improves and transaction fees decline.