As the world of cryptocurrencies becomes increasingly closed and competitive, Vitalik Buterin is sounding the alarm. The creator of Ethereum now advocates for “copyleft,” a license requiring those who reuse open-source code to publish their improvements. This shift aims to counter private appropriation of collective knowledge and preserve the collaborative ideal that has been Web3’s strength.

The Philosophical Turning Point of Ethereum’s Creator

In a blog post published Monday, Vitalik Buterin announces a radical change. He, who had always supported so-called “permissive” software licenses, allowing free reuse of code without obligation, now advocates for copyleft, a more demanding license.

The principle is simple: any developer who relies on open-source code must obligatorily share their own modifications.

This change goes beyond the legal framework. It reveals a rupture in the culture of Web3: the spirit of sharing that animated the beginnings of crypto fades, replaced by a logic of competition.

The crypto space in particular has become more competitive and mercenary, and we are less able than before to count on people open-sourcing their work purely out of niceness.

Vitalik Buterin

Today, projects seek to protect their competitive advantage, even at the cost of isolation. The era of sharing out of altruism seems over. Faced with this development, Vitalik proposes a binding framework to preserve open innovation.

The paradox is striking: he who has always expressed distrust of patents and copyrights chooses today a stricter path. A pragmatic response, according to him, to an ecosystem where goodwill is no longer enough to guarantee collective progress.

A Defensive Strategy Against the Financialization of the Sector

This turn toward copyleft is part of a broader reflection by Vitalik Buterin on the future of Ethereum. 

Already at ETHCC 2025, he had expressed strong concern: if Ethereum loses its founding values, it risks becoming an empty shell.

Centralized governance, decentralized applications with closed code, exposed personal data… so many excesses he considers real threats to the initial promise of Web3.

To address this, Vitalik sees copyleft licenses as an effective defensive weapon.

They allow building a common technological foundation, but reserved for those committed to transparency. 

Simply put: if you take, you must give back.

This approach is not unanimously accepted, but it is gaining more and more support within the community. Crypto investor Adam Cochran, for example, embraces it without excessive reservation:

I think there’s some practical edge cases where copyleft is problematic but overall agree with the philosophy.

While he acknowledges that this method may impose constraints in some cases, he considers it essential to ensure a form of fairness in an ecosystem increasingly marked by competition and the race for profits.

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By adopting this stance, Vitalik Buterin seeks to defend the soul of Ethereum. A project born from an ideal of openness, now threatened by financialization. His choice of copyleft is both strategic and philosophical: it could weigh heavily in upcoming debates on governance and the future of blockchain innovation.