Vitalik: Instead of banning AI data centers, it's better to have the ability to cut 99% of hashrate at critical moments.

Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin offers a different perspective on U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders’ proposed AI data center moratorium: instead of simply banning new large-scale facilities, a global “pause button” mechanism should be established. This would allow for a rapid reduction of 90-99% of hashrate at critical moments, giving humanity valuable preparation time and promoting a more decentralized AI development.
(Background summary: Vitalik responds to the “Prysm client” vulnerability incident: Ethereum can occasionally lack finality, and that’s okay! Just avoid finalizing errors.)
(Additional context: Vitalik suggests that the market should adopt a “distributed oracle” + multiple decision mechanisms to prevent malicious manipulation.)

U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent from the Senate, posted on X platform today (17th), calling for a moratorium on the construction of data centers used for AI development and deployment. He stated: “I will push for a moratorium on building data centers that drive unregulated AI development and deployment. This moratorium will give ‘democracy’ a chance to catch up and ensure that the benefits of technology serve all of us, not just the 1% of the wealthy.”

Sanders believes that AI development currently lacks sufficient regulation, mainly dominated by a few tech billionaires, which could lead to massive job losses, increased social inequality, and huge consumption of electricity and water resources. He emphasizes that Congress should intervene to ensure democratic mechanisms keep pace with technological advances, preventing benefits from being concentrated among a few elites. This call has already gained support from some environmental groups and reflects American society’s concerns over the rapid expansion of AI data centers, including rising electricity costs and environmental burdens.

Vitalik: A more effective approach is to establish a “pause mechanism”

In response to Sanders’ viewpoint, Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin also addressed the discussion on X platform today, presenting both pros and cons of Sanders’ moratorium proposal. He first admits that slowing down AI development has its benefits (“slowdown gud”) and supports initiating discussions to distinguish between “supersized clusters” and general consumer-grade AI hardware, which can help promote more decentralized progress while focusing regulation on large facilities.

However, Vitalik also points out counterarguments: such a moratorium could be easily circumvented and may not truly achieve its goals. More importantly, he believes that rather than simply banning new data centers, a more valuable approach is to establish a “pause button” mechanism — capable of rapidly reducing global available compute by 90-99% for 1-2 years at a more critical future moment, giving humanity time to prepare.

Vitalik’s perspective also reflects his consistent stance of “defensive accelerationism” (d/acc): supporting technological progress while emphasizing the need for safety measures.

argument for: slowdown gud

argument against: the more useful thing is “pause button” – building toward having the capability to cut available compute by 90-99% for 1-2 years at a future more critical moment

argument for: opening the discussion on distinguishing between…

— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) December 17, 2025

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