On February 6, Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, wrote in X that the values of the 2013 era were correct, including support for free speech, entrepreneurship and innovation, opposition to monopoly and supplier lock-in, support for democratic institutions, opposition to greed, and opposition to national security through oppression. In response to the suspicion that democratic institutions can lead to populism, Vitalik said that democratic institutions do not exist to create the best outcomes, but to prevent the worst from happening. While both democratic and non-democratic systems can go in a bad direction, the latter lacks a safety valve mechanism.