In a recent interview, Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson took a jab at Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin for his low stake in the Ethereum 2.0 network. Hoskinson claimed that Buterin only staked 3,200 ETH out of his estimated 333,000 ETH holdings, which amounts to less than 1% of his total wealth. Hoskinson argued that this shows a lack of confidence and commitment in his own protocol and contrasted it with his own involvement in Cardano’s staking system.
Hoskinson said that he staked all of his ADA tokens, which are worth over $2 billion at the current market price, in the Cardano network. He said that this demonstrates his trust and belief in the security and scalability of Cardano, which he claims is superior to Ethereum in many aspects. He also said that he is not afraid of losing his tokens, as he is confident that Cardano will succeed in the long term.
Buterin has not responded to Hoskinson’s criticism directly, but he has previously explained his reasons for staking only a small portion of his ETH holdings. In a blog post from December 2020, Buterin said that he wanted to avoid creating a single point of failure for the Ethereum network, and that he preferred to diversify his staking across multiple validators and clients. He also said that he wanted to encourage other ETH holders to stake their tokens, and that he did not want to appear as a central figure in the Ethereum community.
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Hoskinson and Buterin have a long history of rivalry and disagreement, dating back to their involvement in the early days of Ethereum. Hoskinson was one of the co-founders of Ethereum, but he left the project in 2014 after a dispute with Buterin over the governance and vision of the platform. Hoskinson then founded IOHK, the company behind Cardano, which aims to create a more scalable, secure and decentralized blockchain platform than Ethereum.
The two founders have often exchanged criticisms and opinions on each other’s projects, as well as on broader topics such as blockchain technology, cryptocurrency regulation and social impact. While they have occasionally expressed respect and appreciation for each other’s work, they have also maintained a competitive and adversarial stance, as they vie for dominance and adoption in the blockchain space.
According to Etherscan, Vitalik Buterin currently holds about 333,520 ETH, which is worth about $1.2 billion at the time of writing. Out of this amount, he has staked only 2,730 ETH, which is less than 1% of his holdings, in the Ethereum 2.0 deposit contract. This means that he will earn rewards for validating the new PoS network, but also that he will not be able to access his staked funds until the network is fully launched.
Why did Buterin stake such a small portion of his ETH holdings? There are several possible reasons for this decision. One reason could be that he wants to keep most of his fund’s liquid and flexible, so that he can use them for other purposes, such as funding research and development projects, donating to charities, or diversifying his portfolio. Another reason could be that he wants to avoid putting too much influence or pressure on the network by staking a large amount of ETH. By staking only a small portion, he can signal his confidence in the protocol without dominating the validator set or creating a single point of failure.
Why is Charles Hoskinson wrong about Vitalik Buterin’s staking decision?
Charles Hoskinson, who is also the co-founder of Ethereum but left the project in 2014 due to disagreements with Buterin and other developers, has been vocal about his criticism of Ethereum and his support for Cardano, which is a competing blockchain platform that claims to offer superior technology and governance. In a recent interview with Lex Fridman, Hoskinson said that Buterin’s staking decision shows that he does not trust his own protocol and that he is afraid of losing his wealth if something goes wrong.
However, this argument is based on a false premise and a misunderstanding of Buterin’s motives. As explained above, Buterin’s staking decision does not reflect a lack of trust in his own protocol, but rather a rational and prudent choice that balances risk and reward, liquidity and security, influence and decentralization. Furthermore, Buterin has repeatedly stated that he does not care much about his personal wealth and that he is more interested in advancing the vision and mission of Ethereum as a global public good.
Therefore, Hoskinson’s criticism of Buterin’s staking decision is unfounded and unfair. It seems that Hoskinson is trying to use this issue as a way to promote Cardano and to discredit Ethereum, without acknowledging the merits and challenges of both platforms. Instead of engaging in personal attacks and tribalism, Hoskinson should focus on delivering value and innovation to the blockchain community and collaborating with other projects to achieve common goals.