On September 1, Vitalik Buterin conducted an interview with economics author Noah Smith in which the Ethereum co-founder discussed the long-term Talking very much about security, Buterin also discussed the crash of the crypto economy, claiming that he was “surprised that the crash did not happen sooner.”
Buterin: Bitcoin Is ‘Not Succeeding at Getting the Level of Fee Revenue Required to Secure What Could Be a Multi-Trillion-Dollar System’
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin recently had ainterviewwith economics authorNoah Smithand Buterin had a lot to say about the current state of crypto. Smith first asked Buterin asked his thoughts on the recent crypto crash, and Buterin said he thought it would have crashed much earlier.
“I am surprised the crash did not happen sooner.” Buterin said in an interview.” Usually crypto bubbles last about six to nine months after the previous top, and then the rapid decline comes fairly quickly. This time the bull market lasted almost a year and a half,” the developer added.
Buterin also spoke highly ofBitcoin (BTC)network and The Merge, as well as much about Ethereum’s long-awaited transition from proof-of-work (PoW) to proof-of-stake (PoS). He argues that, with regard to fee income from block subsidies, Bitcoin is not cutting it.
“In the long run, Bitcoin’s security is going to come entirely from fees, and Bitcoin just hasn’t succeeded in getting the level of fee revenue needed to protect what could be a multi-trillion dollar system,” Buterin said.
When Smith asked Buterin about Bitcoin’s energy use, the Ethereum co-founder pointed out that PoS is not only about reducing environmental harm, but also keeping the blockchain secure.
“A consensus system that wastes huge amounts of power is not only bad for the environment, but requires hundreds of thousands ofBTC to be issued; BTCorto be issued annually; ETHto be issued annually,” Buterin stressed. .” Eventually, of course, issuance will be reduced to almost zero, at which point it will no longer be an issue, but then Bitcoin will begin to address another issue: how to make sure it stays secure.” Buterin further states that
and these security motivations are also the really important drivers behind Ethereum’s move to proof-of-stake.
Ethereum co-founder claims that the early proof-of-work era is “unsustainable and will not return”
Buterin understands that Bitcoin will not change the consensus mechanism, at least for now, but if the chain is attacked, he believes discussions of hybrid PoS algorithms could emerge.
“Of course, if Bitcoin is actually attacked, I expect the political will to at least switch to hybrid PoS to emerge soon, but I expect it to be a painful transition,” the software developer told Smith. The Ethereum co-founder said he thinks people have the wrong idea about PoS letting the biggest stakeholders control the network.
“Some people try to argue that PoS allows big interests to control the protocol, but I think those arguments are simply wrong,” Buterin said. “They are based on the misconception that PoW and PoS are governance mechanisms when in fact they are consensus mechanisms. All they do is help the network agree on the right chain.”
Buterin went on to say that he thinks the early versions of PoW were a good starting point, but that these days they are outdated, on their way out the door, and will probably never come back.
The highly democratized early proof-of-work era was beautiful and contributed a great deal to making cryptocurrency ownership more egalitarian, but it is unsustainable and will not come back.
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