Ethereum Co-Founder Vitalik Buterin Talks Argentina, BCH, Stablecoins, Scaling in Tweetstorm

Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum, the second-biggest cryptocurrency by market cap, has reacted to some of his earlier beliefs in a new year’s tweetstorm. The developer touched on some subjects including the rise of cryptocurrency in Argentina and how stablecoins are thriving in the country, how ethereum scaling is still a pressing concern for him, and the performance of bitcoin cash.

Vitalik Buterin Reflects on Earlier Takes

Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum, touched on some of his earlier opinions about some subjects and how these fare against the current state of affairs of the crypto landscape in a new year’s tweetstorm. Buterin started by remembering an article that talked about how bitcoin could help Argentinians and Iranians back in 2019, where he concluded this was due to its uncensorable and international character instead of due to its scarcity that this could happen.

Buterin’s vision on this was “generally correct”, according to its views. On this, he stated:

My verdict: generally correct. Cryptocurrency adoption is high but stablecoin adoption is really high too; lots of businesses operate in USDT. Though of course, if USD itself starts showing more problems this could change.

The stablecoin sector has grown significantly this year, with Tether, the biggest stablecoin project, reaching a market cap of $78 billion. Decentralized alternatives like UST, the main stablecoin of the Terra environment, also thrived, reaching a market cap of $10 billion.

Scaling and Bitcoin Cash

On the other hand, Buterin recognizes he was wrong when he considered the problem of Ethereum scaling back in 2015. He shared a screenshot of an Ethereum slideshow roadmap where the time estimated to implement proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus was of 6 to 12 months. However, it was just last year that the beacon chain Ethereum 2.0, which will implement the change of proof of work to proof of stake consensus, was launched.

He attributes this to an underestimation of the complexity of software development and states that now, the Ethereum team is focused on simplicity, in the design of these solutions, and in the final product. Buterin also addressed his famous five cents commentary, stating:

I 100% stand by my comment that “the internet of money should not cost more than 5 cents per transaction”. That was the goal in 2017, and it’s still the goal now. It’s precisely why we’re spending so much time working on scalability.

He also commented on the current state of bitcoin cash (BCH), and while he was more inclined to support the big block side in the scaling war and was optimistic about the project, he now considers it “mostly a failure.” Extending on this, he explained the reasoning behind his current opinion, declaring that:

Communities formed around a rebellion, even if they have a good cause, often have a hard time long term, because they value bravery over competence and are united around resistance rather than a coherent way forward.