Ethereum Is A Drain And Drag On Bitcoin
Ray Youssef, the former founder of Paxful, thinks that Ethereum, the world’s largest smart contracting platform, is a “drain and drag” on Bitcoin.
Is Ethereum Slowing Bitcoin Down?
In his May 21 post, it is evident that the former CEO is critical of Ethereum and considers it a hindrance and obstacle to Bitcoin’s progress.
Breaking down his view, Youssef seems to suggest that Ethereum’s impact has been largely negative, holding back advances in cryptocurrencies.
Ethereum is simply a drain and drag #bitcoin
We should be grateful that it slowed things down as we needed time to figure things out and put the pieces into play. We’ve been standing firm, now it’s time to shine. #civkit will be what Eth should have been and I’m Vitalik on roids. pic.twitter.com/CdbfB0UpaP—Ray Youssef (@raycivkit) May 20, 2023
However, he expressed gratitude for the recent slowdown following last year’s crypto winter. In his assessment, the fall in asset prices at the end of 2021 slowed down activity, allowing the cryptocurrency industry to strategize, adapt and prepare for a new phase of innovation.
Youssef’s tweet hinted that Ethereum’s role has been to impede Bitcoin’s growth rather than promote its development. By referring to Ethereum as a “drain and drag” on Bitcoin, he implies that Ethereum has not reached its potential, impeding Bitcoin’s progress.
Even so, Youssef appears to claim that the time spent dealing with Ethereum’s limitations has allowed the industry to assess its shortcomings and lay a solid foundation. He emphasized the importance of the recent lull, saying the industry “needed time to figure things out and put the pieces in place” before moving forward.
Fulfilling what Ethereum failed to achieve
While the former CEO trashed Ethereum, he revealed that he is working on a project, CivKit, that will accomplish what Ethereum failed to achieve.
He also compares himself to Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, saying his participation in the CivKit project is like “Vitalik on roids”.
This comment gives the impression that your project would bring about a huge improvement in cryptography, adding features that could be superior to what Ethereum has accomplished so far.
When he was the CEO of Paxful, a peer-to-peer crypto trading platform, the portal retired Ethereum after the network switched to a proof-of-stake consensus algorithm.
Paxful cited centralization concerns, as the network now relies on validators staking their coins for a chance to validate transactions and add them to a block.
The platform also cited the number of orchestrated scams on the Ethereum network. As a way to protect its users from scams, the platform said it was removing ETH.
Youssef has been a vocal supporter of Bitcoin. On May 18, he he said Operation Choke Point in the United States, for example, will bring down Bitcoin and the cryptocurrency market. Still, the former CEO remains excited saying that without the currency the country “has no future”.
-Canva image resource, TradingView chart