Vitalik Buterin at Token2049: Crypto’s Early Days Are Over

• Vitalik Buterin claims that the crypto market is no longer in its early stages. 
• Buterin added that there has been a decline in the transaction confirmation time of ETH.
• The crypto entrepreneur compared crypto’s growth to the boom in AI and the Internet.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin spoke at Token2049, discussing the future of crypto and asserting that the digital asset market has moved past its early stages. The crypto entrepreneur was hinting at the massive developments in the crypto space over the past few years via his comments.

Crypto’s Evolution Compared to the Internet

During his keynote speech, “What Excites Me About the Next Decade,” Buterin addressed the common belief that the crypto sector is “still building infrastructure” and in its early stages. He drew a comparison between the creation of the Internet and the global adoption of digital assets and blockchain services.

Buterin noted that people have been saying the crypto market is still in its early stages since the launch of Bitcoin (BTC), the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. He added, “one of the real challenges we face now is that today’s crypto field is no longer in its early stages.”

Read also: Vitalik Buterin on ENS: “Great” and PayPal, Venmo Integration Boosts Adoption

Crypto’s “Special Stage” and AI’s Rise

The crypto entrepreneur added that the market is currently in a “special stage,” drawing a parallel to the explosive growth and popularity of artificial intelligence and ChatGPT, the AI-powered chatbot developed by OpenAI.

Buterin observed that since AI’s development, the sector went from being completely “non-existent” to a multi-billion dollar industry, “completely changing people’s understanding of artificial intelligence.”

So the question we have to ask ourselves is how exactly should we view all of this? Are we really still in the early stages? My answer to this question is that I don’t think we are early in crypto, but we are definitely in a special stage.

Buterin Sings, Reflects on Ethereum’s Growth

Buterin was also seen singing on the Token2049 stage but he was actually recalling some of the “cringe” theme anthems of crypto projects. The Ethereum co-creator highlighted how the crypto market has changed over the years, along with Ethereum, which has been around for the past 10 years.

Buterin also mentioned that Ethereum’s transaction confirmation time has dropped significantly since the Merge and acknowledged that many of his transactions were confirmed in just “5 to 15 seconds.”