Tether’s Ardoino: Ethereum ‘cannot compete’ with Bitcoin
11:30, 14 September 2022
All eyes in crypto are on the world’s second-biggest blockchain, Ethereum, as it is about to undergo its long-anticipated and repeatedly delayed network upgrade.
The most hyped-up event in crypto history has shot ether (ETH) into the spotlight.
But despite its recent popularity, ETH has some big shoes to fill when it comes to challenging bitcoin’s primacy among cryptocurrencies.
ETH “still doesn't march” and “cannot compete with” bitcoin, points out Paolo Ardoino, chief technical officer of the world’s biggest stablecoin issuer Tether (USDT) and cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex.
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‘Ethereum still doesn’t match bitcoin’
“While bitcoin is a form of money, Ethereum is stuck between claims of being a form of money and claims of being a platform, but ETH cannot compete with bitcoin on the money front because there is no fixed supply, and it isn’t really a world computer yet because it has a shared global state and hence too slow to be scalable,” said Ardoino.
The Merge – Ethereum blockchain’s upgrade from proof-of-pork (PoW) to a less energy-demanding proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism – is expected to cut the Ethereum network’s electricity consumption by 99.98%.
As regulators all over the world move to restrict the energy-demanding PoW algorithm, some people, like Alex de Vries – researcher and founder of Digiconomist, which is known for providing data on cryptocurrencies’ environmental impact – suggested the Bitcoin blockchain will need to follow in Ethereum’s footsteps.
Ethereum's co-founder, Vitalik Buterin, has said that Bitcoin will have to switch to PoS to keep its network more secure.
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But The Merge is not a panacea to blockchains, with Ardoino pointing out that it won’t help Ethereum achieve higher decentralization – surely one of the main propositions of cryptocurrencies in the first place. “The real message here isn’t what The Merge will change but what asset already exists that provide the core themes of our industry, which includes true decentralisation,” said Ardoino.
“The fact of the matter is that bitcoin is the only asset out there that has a solid narrative, one that hasn’t changed. Ethereum still doesn’t match bitcoin because its narrative keeps shifting.”
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