ethereum has long been the target of criticism from die-hard bitcoin maximalists who believe that bitcoin is the only worthwhile cryptocurrency even though ethereum has the second-highest percentage of all cryptocurrency market value.
Now, another bitcoin maximalist, Steve Barbour, has referred to the leading smart contract platform as garbage.
bitcoin Maximalist Makes Controversial Claim About ethereum
In a social media post about X, the prominent bitcoin enthusiast recently called ethereum “garbage” and said it has no future. His argument essentially boils down to ethereum‘s failure to attract free market investors and nothing more.
ethereum is garbage. The free market doesn’t want it and the captured market still can’t understand what it’s for.
—Steve Barbour (@SGBarbour) October 16, 2023
Barbour is the founder of Upstream Data, a mining infrastructure company that builds off-grid bitcoin mining rigs. His statement comes immediately after the bet on ethereum ethereum–eth-staking-rewards/” rel=”nofollow”>rewards fall to new lows.
The amount of ethereum in staking pools has steadily increased in recent months; However, this has not been accompanied by greater profitability. According to CoinGecko, liquid staking protocols accounted for 43.7% of the total 26.4 million eth staked in August 2023.
The annual percentage yield (APY) on eth staking has decreased over the years, dropping from 18% in 2020 to 3% in October. Since 2022, these protocols have paid out 100,000 eth in quarterly incentives for staking, but the low APY has led many investors to question whether eth is still worth staking.
barbour et al ethereum-could-collapse/” rel=”nofollow”>bitcoin Maximalists Claim that ethereum is not as decentralized as bitcoin, particularly considering that the blockchain has recently moved from a proof-of-work process to a proof-of-stake consensus process.
Most of them believe that bitcoin is the only “true” cryptocurrency and that all other cryptocurrencies are worthless. bitcoin maximalists have also criticized other cryptocurrencies besides ethereum. Max Kaiser, another strong bitcoin supporter, has bitcoin-xrp-centralization/” rel=”nofollow”>He recently claimed that XRP is centralized.
<img decoding="async" class="aligncenter" src="https://technicalterrence.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Bitcoin-Maximalist-Calls-Ethereum-Garbage-Heres-Why" alt="Tradingview.com ethereum Price Chart (bitcoin Maximalist)” width=”2670″ height=”1746″ loading=”lazy”/>
eth price remains firmly above $1,500 | Source: ETHUSD on Tradingview.com
Responses and reactions
ethereum has proven to be more than garbage, as evident in its large following and large ecosystem. However, some bitcoin supporters agreed with the maximalists.
Agreed. It’s full of speculators.
– Carnival_Poe (@Carnival_Poe) October 17, 2023
The free market has ethereum now at $1,550. eth has witnessed a 1.65% price drop in the last 24 hours and continues to be weaker against bitcoin.
On the other hand, bitcoin has increased its dominance against altcoins. Most of the money and attention has gone to bitcoin, with the cryptocurrency seeing a 6.39% rise over the past seven days.
As a result, eth bulls have struggled to break above $1,600 and the cryptocurrency is now trading around the $1,550 support zone. If the bulls fail to hold this level, another decrease to just $1,430.
Featured image from Forbes, chart from Tradingview.com