[Digital Today reporter Jinju Hong] Ethereum (ETH) co-founder Vitalik Buterin (비탈릭 부테린) is writing a science-fiction novel on decentralised governance instead of his usual long technical essays, drawing attention across the blockchain industry.

On May 27 (local time), blockchain media outlet BeInCrypto reported that Buterin disclosed the project on social platform Farcaster and has already posted Chapters 1 and 2 on his personal website. He said he decided to experiment with decentralised governance in narrative form rather than writing a blog post as usual, explaining the shift in his research approach.

Buterin has previously addressed complex governance issues such as DAOs (decentralised autonomous organisations), voting mechanisms and public goods funding through theory-focused technical writing. In this project, he is approaching the subject by testing in a story how real governance structures work, set in a fictional society and crisis. The narrative incorporates structural limits of existing DAOs as sources of conflict, including low voter participation, power concentration by large token holders and imbalances in financial structures, while experimentally reworking mechanisms he has proposed before, such as quadratic voting.

Some analysis says the change also intersects with long-term governance challenges facing the Ethereum ecosystem. Buterin has recently described the role of the Ethereum Foundation (EF) as "one node" and has emphasised an experimental structure spanning the broader decentralised ecosystem rather than centring on a specific organisation. The novel is also seen as an attempt to explore governance design in a more three-dimensional way by narratively unfolding clashes among stakeholders and power structures, rather than stopping at technical proposals.

His choice of Farcaster as the channel for the announcement is also drawing notice. By disclosing it first on Farcaster, known as a decentralised social protocol, some assessments say it also conveys a message about placing content production and distribution on a distributed network rather than on a centralised platform. The move is seen as meaningful because it extends beyond a simple change in content format to a choice that also touches his technical philosophy and communication approach.

It has not yet been decided whether the project will become a completed full-length novel or remain at an open experimental stage. Still, the project is being taken as a sign that Buterin, one of the most closely watched figures in the Ethereum ecosystem, is changing how he addresses governance issues. It remains to be seen whether future chapters will read like technical proposals or broaden the readership through the narrative itself.