Elon Musk Asks Why Vitalik Buterin Left X in Recent Months

Elon Musk expresses concern about Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin ditching X for Farcaster. 

Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin has become somewhat inactive on X, sparking concerns among Ethereum community members. An X user with the display name, Autism Capital, urged the Ethereum founder to return to being active on X. The tweet moved the tech billionaire Elon Musk to ask why he left X.

Buterin Prefers Farcaster

The Ethereum creator shifted attention from X to Farcaster, another social media platform integrated with crypto-based functionalities. Last month, Buterin praised Farcaster, classifying the platform as one that is “quite useable as a Twitter [or X] alternative for lots of people.” He even suggested the project work on the number of spam features on the platform.

Founded in 2020 by ex-Coinbase workers, Farcaster operates as a decentralized protocol building social networks. It allows developers to deploy decentralized apps on a social platform. The project is natively built on the Ethereum layer-2 network Optimism. Last month, however, the project expanded its tentacles to integrate its products with the layer-1 blockchain network Solana.

Since he expressed interest in Farcaster, Buterin’s X activities reduced, albeit he seldom posts. Currently, he has around 180,000 followers on Farcaster. The figure is minimal in comparison with his 5.2 million followers on X.

Beckoning on Buterin’s full return to X, Autism Capital wrote:

“Vitalik needs to get back on X. Farcaster isn’t going to win the culture war. If he wants Ethereum to shine he should engage more on this platform, not sequester himself with his chosen peers on an island. He will have far more impact if he engages the bigger community here.”

X’s Transition Under Musk

Since he claimed leadership of the microblogging platform in 2022 after a $44 billion acquisition, Musk changed the firm’s name from Twitter to X. The tech billionaire added other adjustments involving features like the blue verified badge. Several of these modifications did not sit well with employees of the social app, as many left.