Adam Back, Blockstream CEO and well-known computer scientist in the crypto community, went on a rant on Twitter dissing several high profile blockchains, including the second-largest crypto project, Ethereum. He compared these blockchains to “Ponzi schemes.” Back wrote on Twitter:
“Bitconnect, Charles Ponzi, Ethereum, Onecoin, Cardano, Ripple, Bernie Madoff, stellar, Dan Larmer. All looking very similar grade to me.”
As a Bitcoin maximalist and developer, Back was critical of some of the top altcoins, Ethereum being top of the list. According to him, the exploits of Ripple, Ethereum, Cardano, and Dan Larimer’s founded EOS, are all similar to the two most known financial conmen, Charles Ponzi (who originated Ponzi schemes) and Bernie Madoff, the billionaire Ponzi market maker.
Moreover, the list also includes two of the biggest crypto-based scams in Bitconnect and Onecoin, the latter costing investors close to $4 billion in funds invested.
Explaining his choice of projects in the tweet, Adam claims the four projects mentioned do not follow his belief in “hard money, meritocracy, and ethics.” He further explains:
“I think there are unicorn dreamers who got trapped in magical thinking with themselves as a self-regarded tech genius and central bank policymaker. Reality is they are misallocating capital, scam 2.0, idiocracy.”
On Ethereum, he explains: “70% of pre-mine and ethics are incompatible. Eth continually over-markets undelivered or junk tech.”
Also Read: Blockstream CEO Adam Back: Now-Defunct Theranos Was Similar To Ethereum
Bitcoin Maximalist or Wrong Take?
Back’s comments, however, have not been taken lightly by the named parties and the community at large. Some resorted to terming Back a BTC maximalist as one of the starting developers on Bitcoin.
Dan Larimer, the founder of EOS, replied harshly stating:
“My respect for you has disappeared if you are willing to paint me and others with the same brush. I thought you were more reasonable, civilized, and intelligent.”
Ethereum Founder, Vitalik Buterin, hit back at Adam’s comments claiming “the tides of history will not be favorable to maximalists.” He tweeted,
Reciting tired old propaganda is becoming less and less effective every day. Ethereum is rising, proof of stake and sharding are rising, and rollups are here, all through a large distributed ecosystem working in parallel. The tides of history will not be favorable to maximalism. https://t.co/PZ11XR2Pre
— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) August 6, 2020
IOHK Founder and Cardano founder, Charles Hoskinson dismissed Back’s comments as “sad and pathetic.”
Cardano, Charles Ponzi, Madoff on Adam’s list together. Damn Adam, that’s sad and pathetic. https://t.co/sXviObIaTP
— Charles Hoskinson (@IOHK_Charles) August 6, 2020
A Decentralized Field… Different Opinions
As far as decentralization goes, there will always be different opinions on subjects and projects. The rising tide of Ethereum and DeFi space, in general, could be encroaching in BTC’s territory hence the pushback by BTC maximalists.
In this case, Adam’s comments may hold up in the future, but the blockchains keep growing and developing (some faster than BTC). One thing it shows is every belief wins in a decentralized community. Changpeng Zhao “CZ,” CEO of Binance had good fun in the back, and forth it seems:
Welcome to decentralization, different opinions flourish.
Immediately thougt of this GIF, lol. but I am actually going back to work. Have at it boys and girls. 😆 pic.twitter.com/n4fhZ1hn1i
— CZ Binance (@cz_binance) August 6, 2020