Charles Hoskinson Slams Ethereum’s Future, Cites Major Flaws

Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency in the world after Bitcoin, is under attack by an unlikely source — Cardano's creator Charles Hoskinson. According to a recent comment, Hoskinson asserted that Ethereum might either vanish completely or become unrecognizable in the next 10 to 15 years because of technical issues and governance vulnerabilities.

Hoskinson Compares Ethereum to BlackBerry

During an "Ask Me Anything" session, Hoskinson likened Ethereum to BlackBerry, the former mobile behemoth that was unable to keep pace with new technologies. He stated Ethereum, similar to BlackBerry, risks becoming irrelevant if it doesn't get major structural and technical overhauls.

"BlackBerry was the monarch of mobile technology. But a subpar app environment, tardy decision-making, and the refusal to accept touchscreen trends did it in. Ethereum is at risk for the same," Hoskinson declared.

Three Key Bugs in Ethereum, Based on Hoskinson

Hoskinson identified three fundamental technical problems with Ethereum's infrastructure:

• Complicated Transaction Tracing – Ethereum's system of tracing transactions and balances is too cumbersome and inefficient.
• Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) Weaknesses – EVM, the smart contract execution engine, possesses various weaknesses and is not very flexible.
• Proof of Stake (PoS) sustainability – Hoskinson was critical of Ethereum's recent shift to PoS, describing it as an unsustainable long-term model.

 What is Proof of Stake (PoS)?

Proof of Stake (PoS) is a consensus mechanism employed by blockchain networks to identify which user gets to validate the next block of data. Rather than employing computing power (as in Proof of Work), PoS depends on users staking their tokens as proof of trustworthiness. Although it lowers energy consumption, critics contend it can undermine decentralization and long-term resilience.

Layer-2 Networks Dubbed "Parasitic"

Hoskinson also faulted Layer-2 scaling solutions like Polygon, Optimism, and Arbitrum as "parasitic" systems.

He said these networks borrow value and traffic from Ethereum's mainnet without giving much in return, and further commented on Ethereum's weakness in having strong on-chain governance mechanisms.

Also Read: Pahalgam Attack Shatters Pakistan’s Dream of Becoming a Crypto Hub

Conclusion

Hoskinson's warning has created fear among investors, but Ethereum is still a giant in the world of blockchain. With its massive developer community and busy community, declaring Ethereum dead may be hasty. The criticism, however, underscores real governance and scalability issues that Ethereum needs to tackle if it wants to continue playing a significant role in the Web3 landscape that is changing.