Ethereum’s Vitalik Buterin Flags Risks of Vote Buying in Proposed Zcash Governance Model

• Buterin warns that token-based governance in Zcash could cause compromise long-term privacy and allow vote buying.
• Ethereum spends far more on network security than on development and public goods, as to ensuring potential long-term funding gaps.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has expressed strong reservations about a proposed shift to token-based governance in the Zcash community. This warning rooted from his high priority on privacy for Real-World financial use sases, and that that this could potentially allow large holders to dominate decisions and enable vote buying, ultimately putting long-term privacy and civil liberties at risk.

For context, the Zcash Governance Model refers to the system by which decisions about funding, development, and network upgrades are made within the Zcash ecosystem.

According to the Zcash Foundation, their governance model relies on a small committee of appointed or elected members to review and approving funds proposals for network development, research, and community initiatives; while some view this structure as separate from the real-world outcomes, others argue it could actually help prevent risks like vote buying, despite of debate continues over whether it should be replaced by a token-based or market-driven system allowing ZEC holders to vote directly.

In his November 30 post on X, Buterin publicly saying that token voting would push decisions toward short-term price gains, undermining the civil-liberties goals the project originally stood for. He also noted:

Security has always been a top priority for the co-founder, as previously highlighted by his and the Ethereum Foundation’s introduction of Kohaku, a modular privacy setting designed to provide wallets with stronger built-in privacy without sacrificing compliance.

Ethereum Price Outlook on Governance Reforms

According to the Ethereum Roadmap, prior to The Merge (when Ethereum ran on Proof‑of‑Work), the network issued roughly 13,000 ETH per day in mining/block rewards. After the Merge, daily issuance dropped significantly (to under ~2,000 ETH/day, mainly via validator rewards).

While traders react to short-term price swings, Buterin emphasizes that these movements cannot be viewed in isolation from the underlying economic structure and governance mechanisms. As he put it:

This shows nevertheless, that Ethereum spends a lot on network security, digital privacy, but far less on long-term research, development, and public projects, which could affect investor confidence and the network’s resilience.

At the time of writing, Ethereum (ETH) is trading at $2,824.82, reflecting a 5.61% decrease over the past day and 1.21% in the past week. See ETH price chart below.