Ethereum Foundation Releases Trustless Manifesto

The Ethereum Foundation has published the “Trustless Manifesto,” a document aiming to reinforce the core values of decentralization and censorship resistance on the Ethereum network. Co-authored by Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin and researchers Yoav Weiss and Marissa Posner, the manifesto emphasizes principles such as credible neutrality, self-custody, verifiability, and resistance to convenient centralization.

The initiative, which has been under discussion for some time, is now available on-chain at trustlessmanifesto.eth. The document cautions developers against introducing intermediaries and checkpoints in pursuit of faster adoption, warning that such practices can compromise trustlessness.

The Foundation notes that integrating hosted nodes or centralized relayers, while seemingly harmless initially, can lead to habitual centralization and diminish the protocol’s permissionless nature.

According to the manifesto, “Trustlessness is not a feature to add after the fact. It is the thing itself.” The authors caution against prioritizing convenience, stating that “every line of convenience code can become a choke point.”

Separately, the Ethereum Foundation recently initiated the planned shutdown of Holešky, a public testnet launched in 2023. The decision follows the completion of Fusaka upgrade testing and the introduction of PeerDAS, a feature designed to reduce validator bandwidth and improve Layer-2 scalability. Holešky supported the Pectra upgrade completed in May 2025 but faced challenges including validator inactivity and lengthy exit queues. The Foundation’s actions reflect its ongoing commitment to technical advancement and upholding the core principles of the Ethereum network.

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