Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin highlighted Bitcoin's design focus on decentralization at the ETH ChiangMai togETHer Tuesday event on January 27. Buterin explained that Bitcoin's initial emphasis on decentralization meant that privacy was not fully optimized. Early cryptographic privacy solutions often depended on centralized institutions, and technologies that could achieve both decentralization and privacy were not feasible at the time. Buterin noted that it wasn't until the last decade, with advancements in privacy technologies like zk-SNARKs, that parts of the Ethereum ecosystem began exploring methods to integrate privacy into on-chain systems. This development marks a significant shift towards enhancing privacy while maintaining decentralization in blockchain networks.