Vitalik Buterin Issues Rare Warning on the Hidden Risks of Blockchain Validators’ Power

Jakarta, Pintu News – Ethereum (ETH) co-founder Vitalik Buterin has warned that the cryptographic guarantees of the blockchain end when external trust comes into play.

On October 26, Buterin explained that even a 51% attack cannot make an invalid block valid. This means that even if the majority of validators cooperate or have bugs in their software, they still can’t take over users’ funds or falsify transactions.

Buterin Reignites Debate Over the Role of Blockchain Validators

Vitalik Buterin has reignited the debate in the developer community around the role of validators in the blockchain ecosystem. This is due to the mechanism of each blockchain node independently verifying new blocks and automatically rejecting blocks that violate protocol rules.

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This decentralized verification process is what protects Ethereum from false data logging, even if the majority is controlled by a particular party.

However, Buterin emphasized that this security guarantee only applies within the scope of the blockchain protocol itself.

According to him, once users start relying on validators for tasks outside the framework-such as bridging assets, verifying real-world data, or confirming off-chain events-they enter a territory where trust begins to replace mathematical certainty.

In such domains, if 51% of validators agree on an incorrect statement, then there is no escape provided by the network.

Differences of Opinion from Some Figures

Buterin’s statement reignited a heated discussion in the developer community. Many began to question how much control validators should have, especially amid the adoption of complex features such as bridges, oracles, and off-chain attestations.

Polygon’s CTO, Mudit Gupta, supported Buterin’s warning. He explained that while validators can’t change Ethereum’s state directly, they can still “steal money” through maximum extraction value (MEV) or even censor certain transactions.

On the other hand, some people disagree with Buterin’s views.

Seun Lanlege, co-founder of Hyperbridge in the Polkadot (DOT) ecosystem, argues that the influence of validators goes much deeper. He warns that the majority of malicious validators can manipulate block propagation or even isolate nodes through eclipse attacks.

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According to him, this shows that there are structural vulnerabilities that go beyond the issue of MEVs or censorship alone.

Meanwhile, MultiversX core developer Robert Sasu offers a different approach by encouraging the development team to minimize reliance on off-chain components.

“Build and run everything directly inside the decentralized L1,” he said.

According to Sasu, reliance on centralized systems such as bridges, oracles, or price providers opens up opportunities for manipulation. True resilience, he says, can only be achieved through the design of fully decentralized, permissionless, and composable systems-while minimizing the role of intermediaries that must be trusted.

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Reference:

• BeInCrypto. Ethereum: Vitalik Exposes Blind Spot in Blockchain Security. Accessed on October 27, 2025