Yesterday, I saw a wave of rumors that Vitalik supposedly disappeared. As usual, the crypto community immediately started to panic. But let's figure out what really happened.

In fact, Buterin has not gone anywhere. There have just been serious personnel changes recently in the leadership of the Ethereum Foundation. A year ago, at the beginning of 2025, the foundation announced a new management structure: co-directors Hsiao-Wei Wang and Tomas Stanczak joined. Wang worked as a researcher at Ethereum for seven years, and Stanczak heads Nethermind, one of the key network clients. These changes sparked quite a bit of discussion within the community.

The reason for the restructuring was that part of the community criticized the Foundation's approach to project management. Buterin himself responded to the criticism but did not leave the project. He continues to be a central figure in the ecosystem and actively proposes development strategies for the network. For example, he is working on increasing throughput and developing Layer-2 solutions.

It’s worth remembering that this is not the first time fake news about Buterin has circulated. In 2017, there was information circulating that he had died in a car accident in Canada. This rumor caused panic: Ethereum's price dropped by 21% in just a week. Later, Buterin refuted all of this by posting proof of his existence on Twitter.

So no, Buterin has not disappeared. It’s just that in the crypto world, rumors and fakes can spread lightning-fast and seriously impact the market. It’s always important to verify sources before panicking.