Vitalik Buterin just donated 128 ETH each to Session and SimpleX Chat, two decentralized messaging platforms that take privacy way more seriously than most apps. That’s roughly $760,000 total going toward building truly private communication tools.
Buterin says apps like Signal are good with end-to-end encryption, but they’re not going far enough. The next level needs permissionless account creation and actual metadata privacy, which means no phone numbers, no centralized servers, and no way to track who’s talking to whom.
Session and SimpleX both ditch traditional identifiers completely. You don’t need to give up a phone number or create some traceable user ID. That’s the kind of anonymity Buterin thinks is essential for real digital privacy.
He admitted getting this right is incredibly hard, though. True decentralization gets complicated fast when you factor in multi-device support, stopping spam attacks, and keeping everything user-friendly. He’s calling for more technical experts to help solve problems like denial-of-service resistance without forcing people to verify with phone numbers.
This donation fits Buterin’s pattern of funding privacy tech and humanitarian causes. His crypto net worth is over $737 million, so he’s got the resources to back projects aligned with Ethereum’s values. He also just co-authored a “Trustless Manifesto” pushing blockchain developers to prioritize decentralization over shortcuts.
Conclusion
Vitalik Buterin backed privacy-first messaging by donating to Session and SimpleX, urging deeper decentralization, metadata protection, and expert collaboration to solve hard privacy challenges without compromising user anonymity.
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