Bloomberg's Studio 1.0: Ethereum Co-founder Vitalik Buterin
Ethereum is the second-largest cryptocurrency next to Bitcoin. A lot of people believes that there’s no worthy competitor of Bitcoin until Ethereum was launched in 2015 which has brought an exceptional change in the digital currency landscape. It was founded by Vitalik Buterin and its impact is unmatched as developers can create Distributed Applications (dApps) and build smart contracts.
The co-founder of Ethereum, Vitalik Buterin was invited by Bloomberg’s studio in which the purpose of this renowned blockchain was discussed. The episode started with the host providing short details about the inventor. The host Emily Wang questioned Vitalik about how he was able to come to this place and what fascinated him about Bitcoin. The guest replied that he had a great interest in math, cryptography, philosophy, politics, etc. and bitcoin is the fusion of all these topics. Thus, it sparked the interest of Vitalik and his father as well.
The host continued the conversation by revealing that Vitalik didn’t have enough financial means to mine the Bitcoin, so he ended up writing a whitepaper about Ethereum in 2013. She further asked what was the main vision to which the co-founder responded that everything started when he visited a conference in San Jose where he realized that people are leveraging this technology while there was a common question among everyone that we have Bitcoin but what’s next for cryptocurrency.
Vitalik Buterin was asked what is Ethereum and what makes it different from Bitcoin. He replied that Bitcoin has only one application and that is to use it as a currency while Ethereum is much more than that. People can build smart contracts using the programming language and others can easily interact with the dApps. Thus, it’s an open space for everyone to let out their creativity.
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Next, it was discussed that can Ethereum become a threat to social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter as if they are built on Ethereum blockchain, then it would be owned by everyone. The guest replied that it can be a threat and opportunity as well because former CEO Twitter Jack Dorsey is looking forward to decentralized elements.
The host asked how he feels about being a well-recognized person behind the establishment of Ethereum. Vitalik stated that sometimes he wants to be less visible and Emily Wang further questioned other co-founders of Ethereum Anthony Di Iotio quitting crypto because of safety concerns. He was of the point that it has nothing to do with physical safety but he was tired of people annoying him due to which he prefers to wear a face mask in public.
When Vitalik was asked why he wanted Ethereum to be non-profit he replied that the decentralized technology should not be owned by anyone and that platform should be open for everyone. The topic of Vitalik’s tense reaction to Kim Kardashian about Ethereum Max was brought up to which he said that it was a scam project with no value at all so there were no reasons to back up such cryptocurrencies.
The issue of scalability was also brought up and Vitalik stated that the team has been working for 5 years and the scalability has been increased by a great margin. When it was about the comparison of Proof-of-Work and Proof-of-Stake, he provided his insight that POS is much better because all it takes is a great number of coins and creates block while POW is much expensive as it requires high-end PCs.
ETH 2.0 which is a major upgrade to the blockchain was discussed to which Vitalik said that it will solve 2 major problems. The first one is that it will be shifted to POS so there won’t be mining anymore and the next thing is the merge in which applications built on POW will be shifted to POS so that they can keep operating seamlessly.
When the host asked Vitalik about the scams that have affected the image of Ethereum, Vitalik stated that crackdowns are in action and things are improving as it was before. He further said that there’s hope because mining is moving out of China reducing the hash rate of one country and the regulatory is also making exceptional efforts.
The founder of Ethereum was also questioned about cyber-attacks from Russia that are leveraging blockchains. He stated that we have to take the present scenario as a wake-up call and improve security now as it can lead to serious consequences in the future.
The duo started a conversation about the future of cryptocurrencies that mostly finance and NFT apps are built on blockchain. The only reason is that the current financial system is not up to the mark and blockchain has made it really easy for anyone to make desired transactions with utmost ease. Plus, the co-founder revealed that he is making the environment secure for users as they have to first make accounts before socializing on Ethereum’s blockchain.
Vitalik was also enquired about the future of crypto to which he replied that it is bright but with fads as there are some projects that are overhyped and may live for a short span of time. When the host asked him about the renowned personality from the financial world, he stated that the majority of them are mistaken about cryptocurrencies and underestimate this technology.
Vitalik Buterin was a pessimist about Jack Dorsey’s upcoming decentralized finance app built on Bitcoin. He believes that the co-founder of the CEO will have to build his system that will be owned by the Jack’s or participant’s wallet.
The host asked for Vitalik's insight on where the Ethereum will be in the next 5 to 10 years to which he replied that it has the potential to run Metaverse. When it was about Bitcoin replacing the US dollar, he believed that it was impossible because it’s not stable as forex so there’s no replacement but it has its unique applications.
Vitalik Buterin, who is also recognized for his funky t-shirts was questioned about the community engagement to which he replied that it’s healthy for the Ethereum environment to have fun.
