Vitalik Buterin Suggests Replacing the Concept of "Public Goods" with Open Source Products
Date: 2025-03-31 Author: Henry Casey Categories: BUSINESS
According to Buterin, public goods play an important role in digital decentralized ecosystems, but the concept itself is often controversial and misinterpreted. He emphasized that the term "public good" in public discussions is often associated with government activities, which leads to an erroneous definition of products not based on their functionality, but based on their stated intentions and authors.
Buterin noted that some commercial projects with their own tokens position themselves as creators of public goods, which creates distortions in the perception of this concept. According to him, the lack of clear criteria allows almost any project to be called a public good.
"It cannot be said that creating a commercial project or issuing your own token is bad. But it is important to understand that the very concept of “public good” is so vague that it often simply means “a project,” Buterin emphasized.
As an alternative approach, he suggested paying attention to the creation of open-source products. In his opinion, such projects represent real public goods. Buterin pointed to examples from the field of blockchain research, the development of cryptographic protocols, writing technical documentation, and creating educational materials. He also noted open-source software, such as Ethereum clients, as an example of products that benefit all users without exception.
Buterin believes that open-source products have value by default, since their availability and transparency contribute to the development of technology. He recalled that the definitions developed by the Free Software Foundation and the Open Source Initiative have stood the test of time and have been accepted for several decades.
However, Buterin noted that the creation of open-source products should not become an end in itself. The main thing is to create projects that bring real benefit to society, and not just have the label of “openness.”
Recall that in February, the Ethereum Foundation allocated $1.25 million to support the legal defense of Alexey Pertsev, the developer of the cryptocurrency mixer Tornado Cash.
