Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has provided his perspective on X's (formerly Twitter) new initiative to display the country of origin for accounts. While he acknowledges that the feature will likely yield positive effects in the short term by increasing transparency regarding account origins, he remains skeptical about its long-term efficacy. Buterin warns that in the medium term, sophisticated actors will inevitably find methods to circumvent these checks. He specifically highlights the risk of bad actors renting the identities of real individuals to appear as if they are operating from legitimate locations, thereby bypassing the intended geolocation safeguards. These comments come amidst broader discussions and reports highlighting the scale of foreign troll activity on the platform, suggesting that while the feature is a step towards transparency, it may trigger an 'arms race' of verification evasion. [Update 1] Additional reports confirm Buterin's specific concern regarding identity renting as a primary method for bypassing these new geolocation checks.