Vitalik Buterin and the Ethereum Foundation have introduced the Trustless Manifesto to reinforce the core values of decentralization and censorship resistance.
By Godfrey Benjamin
Editor Julia Sakovich
Updated
2 mins read
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin is looking to reinforce the core values of decentralization and censorship resistance on the network with “Trustless Manifesto.” The Ethereum Foundation (EF) highlighted the introduction of the manifesto on X, noting that it will reaffirm Ethereum’s goal of enabling coordination without trusted intermediaries.
The Manifesto was co-authored by Buterin and Ethereum Foundation researchers Yoav Weiss and Marissa Posner. The bloc admitted that there have been top-level conversations about this initiative for such a long time, but no intentional action was taken towards its implementation.
However, things have changed, and they are finally “putting it where it belongs: onchain.”
1/ Today, The Account Abstraction Team & @VitalikButerin are publishing something we’ve talked about for years but never wrote down clearly enough:
The Trustless Manifesto.
And we’re putting it where it belongs: onchain.
trustlessmanifesto.eth → https://t.co/VtabFPp5Eo
— Ethereum Foundation (@ethereumfndn) November 13, 2025
With the Trustless Manifesto, the goal is to reinforce core values of decentralization and censorship resistance. For more context, developers are encouraged to stay away from introducing intermediaries and checkpoints while chasing faster adoption under this framework. It is believed that crypto platforms compromise trustlessness when they integrate hosted nodes or centralized relayers.
At first, this appears to be harmless, but with time, the practice becomes habitual, and this is where it becomes a concern. As noted, it gradually diminishes the protocol’s permissionless nature with each added checkpoint. EF stated that the manifesto upholds values like credible neutrality, self-custody, verifiability, and resistance to “convenient” centralization.
The co-authors from the Ethereum Foundation noted that “Trustlessness is not a feature to add after the fact. It is the thing itself.” Besides, the researchers noted that “when complexity tempts us to centralize, we must remember: every line of convenience code can become a choke point.”
The Foundation has made headlines in recent times for its many technical engagements. A few weeks ago, the EF initiated the planned shutdown of Holešky, a large-scale public testnet that was launched in 2023 for validation and protocol upgrade testing.
The organization came to this decision following the completion of the Fusaka upgrade testing, which ushered in PeerDAS. Notably, PeerDAS is a feature that reduces validator bandwidth requirements and enhances scalability across Layer-2 networks.
While Holesky was a crucial support for the Pectra upgrade, which was completed in May 2025, the network has been experiencing validator inactivity leaks and extended exit queues. Hence, the decision was made to shut it off.
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Benjamin Godfrey is a blockchain enthusiast and journalist who relishes writing about the real life applications of blockchain technology and innovations to drive general acceptance and worldwide integration of the emerging technology. His desire to educate people about cryptocurrencies inspires his contributions to renowned blockchain media and sites.
