Ethereum, ETHDenver and too many blockchains
Happy Monday everyone. The annual pilgrimage known as EthDenver wrapped up this weekend, and after two days of diving into the festivities, I came away buoyed by the optimism and sheer vitality of the scene. Sure, it was little plenty, and I’ll never get used to grown men dressed as unicorns, but the violent event felt as big as a Broncos game and was a reminder that—even after annus horribilis— Crypto is booming.
While the event was dedicated to all things Ethereum, it also featured dozens of booths and people connecting to rival blockchains, including Near Protocol, which launched a “product-first operating system” designed to surf Web3 products like exchanges and NFTs. All of this reminded me of a question that has long vexed me: Why are there so many blockchains in the first place?
For years, contenders like Solana and Polkadot have branded themselves “Ethereum killers,” even as others launch even more blockchains, including Sui and Aptos, which are being pushed by teams once associated with Facebook’s aborted crypto ambitions. The backers of these projects will tell you that they offer new innovations and that they are cheaper and faster than Ethereum. But I’m not so sure.
I can’t shake the feeling that the main goal of these newer projects is not so much to share a better blockchain with the world, but for the founders to get filthy rich by dumping millions of tokens into a crypto ecosystem already flooded with them. This is not necessarily a bad thing. After all, the founders of Ethereum are made out to be bandits, and every startup in the traditional tech world reserves blocks of shares for its board and early employees.
However, the difference between traditional startups and new blockchains is that the latter will never go away – although it is clear that they will never catch on. In Silicon Valley, most startups fail after a year or two, and at best, someone buys them for parts. Failed blockchains, on the other hand, take on one Walking Dead-like the afterlife as bag holders pump their tokens for years on social media hoping to find new suckers even after it’s clear the chain is a zombie.
This does not mean that the blockchain world needs to be limited to the twin titans of Bitcoin and Ethereum. But it would be nice if the crypto world took note of the critical mass at ETHDenver, and started putting more wood behind fewer arrows.
Jeff John Roberts
[email protected]
@jeffjohnroberts
DECENTRALIZED NEWS
Eco, a startup backed by a16z and others, told clients that the supposed 2.5-5% returns came from lending to Goldman and Fidelity – but in reality they were putting funds into DeFi. (Fintech Business)
Multicoin Capitalhis hedge fund lost over 90% in 2022 due to FTX exposure and large bets on FTT and other tokens linked to Bankman-Fried. (Coindesk)
Managing Director i Dapper Labs allegedly bullied employees and flashed cash on jets and yacht parties, even as it made large layoffs. (The block)
A new investigation into Binance reveals that the company tried to hire now-Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Gensler in 2018 and 2019 to help with regulatory issues. (WSJ)
Prosecutors want to confine internet-obsessed Sam Bankman-Fried to a flip phone while out on bail. (New Post)
MEME O’ MOMENT
