Ethereum’s Vitalik Buterin on Centralized Crypto Exchanges: ‘I Hope They Burn in Hell’

In an interview with a TechCrunch journalist Jon Evans, July 6, co-founder of Ethereum (ETH) Vitalik Buterin criticized centralized exchanges, saying that he hopes they will “burn in hell.”

Buterin has reiterated his positive stance on decentralization, claiming that by developing “better” decentralized platforms, the crypto community should be able to take away the “stupid King making power” from centralized crypto exchanges.

He expressed “I definitely personally hope centralized exchanges burn in hell as much as possible.”

Buterin criticized centralized platforms pointing out to their ability to decide which cryptocurrencies “become big” by charging “these crazy ten to fifteen million dollar listing fees.”

He then added that further decentralization would better satisfy the “blockchain values” of “openness and transparency.”

In fact, decentralized exchanges (DEX’s) are built, unlike centralized ones, in a way to allow users to retain ownership of their cryptocurrencies and private keys.

During the interview, Buterin cited one example to demonstrate the advantages of the current decentralization of Ethereum: “if someone puts a gun to [his] head and tells [him] to write a hard fork patch,” he would definitely do so. However, “relatively few” users would then download and run the update, and that, according to Buterin, “is called decentralization.”