Ossification — the point where a blockchain’s base rules stop changing — is becoming a practical requirement for Ethereum’s scale.
The network now secures hundreds of billions of dollars in assets and processes trillions each year, which makes sudden protocol changes far riskier.
Buterin is proposing locking down the consensus layer while keeping the Ethereum Virtual Machine more adaptable, so developers can keep building without touching the chain’s core rules.
Source: X
The idea is to shrink the attack surface on L1 while keeping flexibility in the layers above it. He also noted that the era of wide-open experimentation has narrowed.
As more institutional money arrives and memecoins dominate retail activity, the ecosystem takes fewer risks and repeats more existing patterns. Ossification, in his view, sets clearer boundaries.
The core stays stable and predictable, while new ideas shift to rollups, wallets, and application layers instead of the base protocol.
Enter… corporate treasuries
This push toward stability comes as public companies and funds treat ETH as a strong balance-sheet holding.
Data from disclosed treasuries shows BitMine Immersion Technologies at the top, holding 1,713,899 ETH worth more than $5.27 billion.
SharpLink Gaming follows with 797,704 ETH, while The Ether Machine controls 345,362 ETH.
Even the Ethereum Foundation maintains 244,481 ETH.
Major listed entities are also accumulating: Coinbase holds 137,334 ETH, Bit Digital owns 120,306 ETH, and 180 Life Sciences reports 82,186 ETH.
Below them, firms such as Fundamental Global (47,331 ETH), Ether Capital (46,274 ETH), and BTCS (70,028 ETH) round out a widening base of corporate holders.
Source: Ethereumtreasuries.net
Institutions are building large, long-term positions just as Ethereum begins talk of locking down its core design.
Predictability is essential
Large holders with hundreds of thousands of ETH don’t want a chain that changes its base rules every few years.
Long-term holding and staking rewards already make ETH behave more like a yield-bearing asset, and L2 scaling now handles most everyday activity. This eases pressure on the main chain.
Ossification supports this shift by reducing protocol surprises, shrinking the attack surface, and creating a steadier environment for staking and settlement.
Early Ethereum moved fast, rolling out major upgrades that changed fees, issuance, and consensus.
Today’s institutional players expect fewer disruptions, clearer timelines, and infrastructure that stays consistent across market cycles.
A fixed core supports all this directly.
The quantum deadline, and the reset
However, this doesn’t remove the need for one last major upgrade.
Ethereum still relies on elliptic curve cryptography, which he said could be broken by quantum computers within four years.
That means the network must switch to quantum-resistant cryptography before 2028, requiring coordination across validators, developers, institutions, and users.
With millions of ETH now on corporate balance sheets, big holders need to know Ethereum can still handle a security overhaul even as its base layer becomes more fixed.
The first test of that balance comes on the 3rd of December with the much-awaited Fusaka upgrade going live.
Source: https://ambcrypto.com/ethereum-needs-to-stop-changing-vitalik-buterin-suggests-heres-why/