Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, has raised concerns about the protocol's increasing complexity, which he argues undermines its core principles. In a post on X, Buterin emphasized that genuine trustlessness and self-sovereignty are compromised by the growing weight of the codebase and the reliance on intricate technologies.
He identified three significant issues stemming from this bloat: diminished trustlessness, unrealistic rebuilding of clients, and compromised self-sovereignty for users. Buterin believes that the focus on maintaining backward compatibility when evaluating upgrades leads to a preference for adding features instead of removing outdated ones.
To address these challenges, he proposed a "garbage collection" approach to Ethereum's development, aimed at simplifying the system by reducing the overall lines of code and minimizing reliance on complex cryptographic methods. He highlighted past successes, such as the transition from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake and ongoing gas cost reforms, as steps in the right direction. Future efforts may involve shifting rarely used features to smart contracts to alleviate pressure on client developers.