Vitalik Buterin backs slower data center expansion

In a November 8 post, Buterin pushed back against strong criticism of anti-data-center movements. He suggested that capabilities requiring much larger facilities in two years could become achievable with today’s computing infrastructure within four years, or possibly sooner, as algorithms improve.

“Nothing remotely apocalyptically bad will happen from even extreme levels of success by anti-data-center people,” he wrote. Buterin did not call for existing facilities to close or propose a specific government ban. He argued that slowing the expansion of computing capacity could be beneficial while society strengthens defenses against cybersecurity threats and possible biological risks linked to increasingly capable AI. He also said scientific research depends on more than computing power, so a one-year slowdown in AI development would not necessarily delay scientific advances by a year.

His comments come as Bitcoin miners turn to AI hosting. Riot Platforms said on November 4 that it had signed a 15-year lease for 910 megawatts of critical computing capacity at its Corsicana facility in Texas, with an estimated $28 billion in contracted revenue over the initial term. Including other leases, Riot reported 1,151 megawatts of contracted data center capacity and about $38 billion in long-term revenue. The company also sold 20,264 Bitcoin in the first nine months of 2026, raising about $1.5 billion, primarily to fund data center development.

Cipher Digital reported its first high-performance-computing lease revenue after rent payments began at Black Pearl. It extended its Barber Lake lease to 20 years, putting expected contracted revenue from the site at about $9.1 billion, and reported a development pipeline of roughly 5.9 gigawatts.

Texas has emerged as a focus of opposition over electricity costs and water use. In a September 21 directive, Governor Greg Abbott ordered state environmental regulators to pause permits for data center projects while their effects on power reliability and water resources were reviewed. After Gina Hinojosa won the November 3 gubernatorial election, she proposed suspending new approvals until lawmakers set community protections covering energy costs, water supplies and public participation. The proposal is not yet statewide law. Cipher shares fell nearly 19% on November 4 as investors weighed the possibility of further development restrictions.

In October, Buterin tested privacy-focused AI tools using Tor routing, anonymous payments and locally processed prompts. He said the setup added delays and did not remove every potential privacy weakness. His November comments addressed a separate concern: whether the pace of infrastructure expansion should leave more time to prepare for AI-related risks.