GM. Vitalik Buterin is calling for a radical "garbage collection" to prune Ethereum’s code, warning that protocol bloat is creating a technical "high priesthood" that threatens decentralization.

Meanwhile, Solana’s CEO rejected the idea of a fixed protocol, Coinbase denied White House clash over the CLARITY Act, and Democrats urged the SEC to resume its case against Justin Sun.

Here are the details on protocol pruning, network evolution, and political pressure. 👇

Buterin Calls For "Garbage Collection" To Curb Ethereum Bloat

Co-founder Vitalik Buterin issued an urgent mandate for Ethereum developers to initiate a radical "garbage collection" process to eliminate protocol bloat. This ideological pivot prioritizes architectural simplicity over the relentless pursuit of experimental new features and complexity.

The manifesto surfaced on 18 January 2026 across global social networks as a direct response to growing technical debt. This timely intervention targets the underlying software fragility that currently threatens the network’s core promise of decentralized trustlessness.

Management argues that extreme cryptographic density erodes user self-sovereignty by forcing reliance on a specialized class of technical high priests. Consequently, Vitalik's proposal seeks to ensure Ethereum passes the walkaway test where code remains inspectable forever.

Engineers must demote secondary features into smart contracts while drastically reducing the total lines of core protocol code. This strategic pruning would minimize the heavy burden on client developers and facilitate the creation of high-quality independent Ethereum nodes.

Solana's Anatoly Yakovenko Rejects Blockchain Ossification

Solana Labs CEO Anatoly Yakovenko stated on Saturday that the network must continuously evolve to remain relevant. He argued that the blockchain should never stop iterating to solve practical problems for its diverse global users. This approach explicitly contrasts with Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin’s vision of reaching a self-sustaining state without further human intervention.

Yakovenko envisions a future where Solana transaction fees could fund AI-assisted development to improve the core codebase. He suggested that relying on a single group for progress is a risk that leads to network death. Consequently, he expects a community of contributors to build future versions rather than aiming for a fixed protocol.

Brian Armstrong Denies White House Clash Over Crypto Bill

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong denied rumors on Saturday that the White House is furious with his company. He clarified that the administration remains constructive despite Coinbase withdrawing support for the stalled CLARITY Act this week. The executive explained that President Trump’s team actually encouraged the exchange to negotiate a better deal with traditional banks.

Armstrong expects a new markup for the market structure bill to occur within a few weeks. He previously labeled certain draft provisions as catastrophic because they would prohibit sharing stablecoin yields with retail customers. The Senate Banking Committee recently postponed its scheduled vote until lawmakers and the crypto industry can reach acceptable terms.

House Democrats Urge SEC Action On Justin Sun Case

Three House Democrats sent a formal letter to SEC Chairman Paul Atkins on Thursday regarding a retreat in crypto enforcement. Representatives Maxine Waters, Sean Casten, and Brad Sherman questioned why the agency paused its high-profile litigation against Tron founder Justin Sun. They expressed concern that politically connected figures might be securing preferential treatment after making donations to recent campaigns.

The lawmakers focused on Sun’s 75 million dollar investment in Trump-linked crypto ventures during late 2024 and early 2025. They requested that the SEC lift the 11 month stay on the case or negotiate a proper settlement. This document preservation request also covers all communications related to the decision to delay the enforcement action against the entrepreneur.

Data of the day

Immunefi CEO Mitchell Amador warned that 80% of hacked crypto projects never fully recover their operations. He noted that most protocols enter a state of paralysis the moment a major security exploit is discovered. The primary cause of failure is usually the breakdown of user trust and slow response times rather than the funds.

Total losses from crypto-related hacks surged to $3.4 billion in 2025, marking a record high since 2022. Expert Alex Katz added that liquidities typically dry up permanently after a protocol suffers a serious smart contract breach. While security tooling is improving for 2026, many teams still lack the predefined incident plans needed to survive.

More breaking news

• Michael Saylor defended Bitcoin treasury models, arguing that allocating excess cash to Bitcoin is more rational than holding low-yield Treasurys.

• ZachXBT attributed Monero’s recent all-time high to a $282 million social engineering hack, where stolen funds were reportedly swapped into XMR.

• Fast-food chain Steak ’n Shake added $10 million in Bitcoin to its treasury, reporting a 15% sales boost since adopting Lightning Network payments.

• Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko signed a decree authorizing "cryptobanks" to integrate digital token operations with traditional banking services under state-run dual supervision.

• China’s mBridge platform has processed over $55 billion in cross-border payments, representing a 2,500-fold increase since the project’s initial pilot phase in 2022.

• Google Play will ban unregistered cryptocurrency exchanges from its South Korean store on January 28, requiring platforms to obtain local virtual asset licenses.

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