Vitalik Buterin revises 2017 view on blockchain self-verification as zk-SNARKs reshape Ethereum roadmap

On January 26 2026, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin said his 2017 dismissal of user-side blockchain self-verification was mistaken. He now argues that advances in zk-SNARKs make it practical for ordinary users to verify Ethereum directly and has pushed zero-knowledge rollups to the center of the network's development plans. This shift also underpins renewed interest in a "mountain man's cabin" fallback model for operating on-chain when intermediaries or network infrastructure fail.