The Ethereum blockchain needs to better explain its features to users to achieve true trustlessness, a challenge common to all blockchain protocols, says its co-founder Vitalik Buterin.
In the absence of trust, the protocol will run without developer supervision because it automatically enforces rules through code. However, if the protocol is so convoluted that only a miniature group can work on it, then in practice others must trust that group anyway.
Ethereum is already trustless because transactions and sharp contracts are enforced by open source code and a decentralized network of validators, but Buterin he said in a Wednesday post on X that the network still needs to improve user understanding.
“An important and underrated form of distrust is increasing the number of people who can actually understand the entire protocol from top to bottom. Ethereum needs to get better at this by simplifying the protocol.”
When asked how realistic this idea is, given the trade-off between technological features and user understanding, Buterin he said“Sometimes we should want to have fewer features.”
Last year, cryptocurrency executives told Cointelegraph that confusion around cryptocurrency storage, regulations and other factors that tech-savvy people take for granted can keep average users on the sidelines and away from technology.
Better understanding of all protocols needed
INTMAX, the second privacy layer built on Ethereum, agreed with Buterin and he said the same principle applies to privacy infrastructure.
“If only five people can understand how your privacy protocol works, you haven’t achieved trustlessness, you’ve just changed who you trust. Simple, verifiable privacy architecture > complex black boxes,” INTMAX stated.
Others have noted that deciphering the technological jargon used in certain protocols can feel like a full-time job or even turn users off of an otherwise promising project.
Ethereum aims for a better user experience
The Ethereum Roadmap acknowledges that using Ethereum may still be “too complicated” for most people and guidelines plans to “drastically lower barriers to entry” and become “as seamless as using a traditional Web2 application.”
Related: Ethereum may accelerate in January as the gas limit increases to 80M
Some of the highlighted improvements aimed at providing a better user experience include sharp contract wallets, which streamline convoluted blockchain details such as gas fees and key management, as well as reducing barriers to running a node by making them available on devices such as a phone or browser-based applications.
Ethereum Foundation as well funds a wide range of educational courses and programs that aid people learn more about blockchain development and related technologies.
Warehouse: Huge Questions: Will Bitcoin Survive a 10-Year Power Outage?
