Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has revised his 2017 views on blockchain self-sovereignty, now endorsing ZK-SNARKs for personal verification. Buterin highlights that these cryptographic proofs allow users to verify transactions without needing to replay the entire transaction history, enhancing privacy and efficiency. He stresses the importance of maintaining self-verification as a safeguard against centralization, ensuring users retain control over their data and interactions on the blockchain.