PoS transition won’t address Ethereum’s shortcomings; Here’s why

Sahana Kiran
Ethereum
Source – Unsplash

Cryptocurrencies have been called a lot of names. Bitcoin [BTC], in particular, has been compared to things like tobacco. Ethereum [ETH], on the other hand, has been garnering backlash ahead of its shift to Proof-of-Stake [PoS] from Proof-of-Work [PoW]. Appearing in a recent interview, Nicholas Weaver, a computer scientist explained why he considered Ethereum to be a “self-assembled Ponzi scheme.”

There’s quite a significant divide between the world. Some have been embracing crypto as they believe that its emergence is inevitable. A few others, however, continue to criticize the industry and think that cryptocurrencies aren’t real currencies. Weaver belonged to the latter as he was quite popular for his criticism of the crypto industry.

In his latest interview, Weaver took a dig at Ethereum’s much-awaited network upgrade, ‘The Merge.’ He started off by noting how PoS did really address a lot of Ethereum’s problems.

The Ethereum network has been called out for its high fees and scalability issues for the longest time. The Merge, however, does not address any of this. Therefore he said, “but proof of stake doesn’t solve Ethereum’s problems.”

Transitioning into PoS has been ETH’s book for the longest time. Developers have been working on the same for years together. But the community was posed with constant delays. While The Merge is expected to occur in September, several in the community continue to remain skeptical. Weaver was one among them, he said

“So first of all, Ethereum has been promising proof of stake since it started. And it’s always been six months out. So wake me up when the transition happens.”

Ethereum’s ethos a lie?

Every network in the crypto-verse abides by certain principles of its own. Similarly, the Ethereum network has been living by the mantra “code is law.”

While several have called out the network for not complying with it, Weaver took a shot at it as well.

He said,

“Ethereum community has already shown that their mantra of ‘code is law’ is a lie. If you steal their money, such as the original DAO hack, they will change the code to steal it back. And switching to proof of stake literally says those who have the most money make the rules.”