Buterin argues real sovereignty now means protecting privacy, attention, and user control.
Vitalik Buterin just gave Bitcoin maximalists something they rarely get from the Ethereum camp: credit.
The Ethereum co-founder responded to a viral 2026-30 predictions post discussing the split between the “open web” and “sovereign web.” Buterin latched onto this distinction and introduced a new term to describe what’s wrong with most of today’s internet: corposlop.
Buterin said the distinction helped him recognize something he hadn’t fully articulated before. What many people still think of as the “open web,” he argued, has increasingly turned into something else entirely.
He described corposlop as a mix of “corporate optimization power,” polished branding, and behavior that looks respectable on the surface but exists purely to maximize profit.
That includes platforms that push outrage and dopamine-heavy content, mass data collection, closed ecosystems with high fees, and trend-driven products that feel repetitive and hollow. In his words, corposlop is “trend-following homogeneity that is both evil and lame.”
Buterin acknowledged Bitcoin maximalists’ resistance to ICOs, altcoins, and token speculation. Their goal was keeping Bitcoin sovereign and outside the corposlop system.
“I must admit the bitcoin maximalists were far ahead,” he said. “Their fear was real.”
He disagrees with their methods, specifically government crackdowns and limiting Bitcoin’s technical capabilities. But the underlying concern was legitimate.
Buterin argued that sovereignty today goes far beyond holding private keys. It now includes protecting digital privacy, limiting corporate control over attention, and resisting systems designed to extract time, data, and money.
“Today, ‘sovereignty’ also means securing your digital privacy through cryptography, and securing your own mind from corporate mind warfare,” he wrote.
His message to builders and users was direct and ideological: “Be sovereign. Reject corposlop. Believe in somETHing.”
The corposlop framework gives users a filter for evaluating wallets, DEXs, and protocols. The question is simple: does this product empower you or extract from you?
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