# Vitalik's DeFi Embrace

*Author: Bankless*
*Published: Sep 22, 2025*
*Source: https://www.bankless.com/read/vitaliks-defi-embrace*

---

[![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/e4/b7/e4b77544-5a37-4f0b-8824-8440aa348476/content/images/2025/09/Group-652--3-.png)](https://asksurf.ai/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=bankless_0916&utm_medium=email&referralCode=BANKLESS)

  
Vitalik's DeFi Embrace

  
  Published on Sep 22, 2025

[
  
  View in Browser

](https://bankless.com/read/briefs)
 

**gm Bankless Nation**,
Vitalik hasn't always had the coziest relationships with Ethereum's DeFi builders, but he's getting praise for a new blog post discussing DeFi's potential impact.

***Today's Issue*** ⬇️ 

- **☀️ Need to Know: **[***Hyperliquid Competition***](https://www.bankless.com/read/synthetix-l1-perp-dex)
Chains are cooking up native perps competitors.
- **🗣️ Analysis:** [***Vitalik's 'Low-Risk DeFi' Signal***](https://www.bankless.com/read/vitaliks-low-risk-defi-embrace)
Vitalik's latest blog post marks a big moment.
- **🎧 Premium:** [***Synthetix is Back on L1***](https://www.bankless.com/podcast/how-synthetix-brings-perps-back-to-the-ethereum-l1-kain-warwick)
Perps trading is coming back to Ethereum.
*p.s. *[*Thanks to 0G*](https://bankless.cc/OGNWL)*. Build together with Google or Optimism on the first scalable, verifiable AI L1. *[*Testnet v3 is here*](https://bankless.cc/OGNWL)*. Mainnet + token coming in Q3 2025.*

---
[**Sponsor: Surf**](https://asksurf.ai/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=bankless_0916&utm_medium=email&referralCode=BANKLESS) — AI-powered crypto copilot that combines institution-grade research and onchain execution.

[Sign Up Today](https://asksurf.ai/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=bankless_0916&utm_medium=email&referralCode=BANKLESS)

.  .  .

 
  
    
      
      NEED TO KNOW
    
    
  
  
Hyperliquid's New Competitors
  

  

 

[![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/e4/b7/e4b77544-5a37-4f0b-8824-8440aa348476/content/images/2025/09/Group-14---2025-09-22T170453.768.png)](https://www.bankless.com/dashboard)- 🧬 **Synthetix Returning to Ethereum L1 With a Bold New Perp DEX. **The rebuilt exchange [features](https://www.bankless.com/read/synthetix-l1-perp-dex) a novel “optimistic orderbook” design once thought unworkable on mainnet.
- 🔶** CZ's Hyperliquid Competitor Sees ASTER Token Pump. **AsterDEX's $ASTER [surged](https://www.bankless.com/read/czs-hyperliquid-competitor-sees-its-aster-token-surge-1500) 1,500% post-launch, igniting token prices for perp dexes as traders bet on similar success.
- 🪐** Metaplanet Makes Largest Bitcoin Buy Yet.** The Japanese firm now holds over 25,000 BTC and is [ramping](https://www.bankless.com/read/metaplanet-makes-largest-bitcoin-buy-yet) up a U.S. expansion focused on bitcoin income strategies.
📸**Daily Market Snapshot: **Crypto prices took a startling drop Monday, setting off $1.8 billion in liquidations as ETH, SOL, and DOGE took substantial dives.

Prices as of 5pm ET
24hr
7d

 

       ![](https://banklesspublic.b-cdn.net/cmc.png)
    

  **Crypto**
   
          $3.89T
       

  
    
    ↘ 3.6%   

   
    
    ↘ 2.8% 
    
  

       ![](https://banklesspublic.b-cdn.net/btc.png)
    

  **BTC**
   
          $112,877
       

  
    
    ↘ 2.2% 
  

   
    
    ↘ 2.3% 
    
  

       ![](https://banklesspublic.b-cdn.net/eth.png)
    

  **ETH**
   
          $4,192
       

  
    
    ↘ 6.3% 
  

   
    
    ↘ 7.3%   

 

.  .  .

 
  
    

ANALYSIS

  
  
Vitalik's 'Low-Risk DeFi' Embrace

  
  
   
     
     Bankless Author: 
     
       [
       
William M. Peaster](https://www.bankless.com/author/william-m-peaster)
    
 

[![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/e4/b7/e4b77544-5a37-4f0b-8824-8440aa348476/content/images/2025/09/image---2025-09-22T170306.272-1.png)](https://www.bankless.com/read/vitaliks-low-risk-defi-embrace)Ethereum's community has long wrestled with a tension: how to sustain the network economically while staying true to its founding ideals.

In his newest essay, Vitalik Buterin argued [the missing link](https://vitalik.eth.limo/general/2025/09/21/low_risk_defi.html) may finally be here: **low-risk DeFi.**

### **What's low-risk DeFi?**
Vitalik means reliable onchain financial tools. Think payments, savings, synthetic assets, fully collateralized lending, etc. 

These resources give *anyone *worldwide access and utility around mainstream asset categories like bonds, currencies, and stocks. In doing so, they offer something both irreplaceable and sustainable: **a trustworthy financial base layer**.

As such, Vitalik said low-risk DeFi "can be for Ethereum what search was for Google." 

[![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/e4/b7/e4b77544-5a37-4f0b-8824-8440aa348476/content/images/2025/09/Xnapper-2025-09-22-17.29.07.png)](https://x.com/VitalikButerin/status/1969522612750672132?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
### **The Main Analogy**
Just as **search and ads became Google’s economic engine**, low-risk DeFi can serve as Ethereum’s anchor revenue stream. 

Of course, apps that aren't primarily financial like ENS, Farcaster, and Lens remain essential for culture and innovation in the Ethereum ecosystem, but they don't have to carry the economic weight of the chain, Vitalik noted. 

Why now, then? 

In recent years, protocol security has hardened and tail risks have declined in DeFi. For some people around the world, automated + transparent DeFi rails may *already *feel safer than local banks. The time has come, in other words. 

### **The Big Picture**
Low-risk DeFi aligns with Ethereum’s values in a few fundamental ways, per Vitalik. Namely, it strengthens the ETH economy, it generates revenue, and it serves a globally positive purpose: **permissionless access to money management services.** 

Plus, unlike ads for Google, this model doesn’t rely on exploiting users’ data or attention! 

And this foundation can evolve into deeper financial inclusion, too. Vitalik cited undercollateralized lending via onchain reputation and new forms of stable value like CPI-based flatcoins (*whose purchasing powers are meant to stay constant*) as possibilities here. 

Ultimately, Ethereum doesn’t need its main economic driver to be speculative froth. If low-risk DeFi scales, it'll give Ethereum the same kind of durable backbone that search gave Google, though this time with incentives that align doing well with doing good.

### **The Beacon Moment**
As you can imagine, the Ethereum community got plenty of excitement from Vitalik's latest post. 

[![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/e4/b7/e4b77544-5a37-4f0b-8824-8440aa348476/content/images/2025/09/Xnapper-2025-09-22-17.29.25.png)](https://x.com/RyanSAdams/status/1969794415595077997)For context, in recent years some people have criticized the Ethereum co-founder for being too measured on DeFi, stemming from his past warnings about circular economics, unsustainable yields, etc. 

Against that backdrop, his vocal support for low-risk DeFi *now *has been broadly applauded as legitimizing and a sort of "lighting of the beacon." It's highlighted the main pillars of DeFi as a positive-sum way forward that can bring real-world utility to underserved users *and *long-term viability to Ethereum. 

For Ethereum, then, there is a strong path forward: **real financial utility**,** sustainable economics**,** **and** values intact**. And that's a foundation worth building on. 

[Read on Bankless](https://www.bankless.com/read/vitaliks-low-risk-defi-embrace)
---
---

*This article is brought to you by [MetaMask](https://www.bankless.com/sponsor/metamask-1776260643?ref=read/vitaliks-defi-embrace)*