- A prominent Ethereum developer has quit the project.
- Many Ethereans are up in arms about the state of the crypto.
- Vitalik Buterin has stepped in to right the ship.
Ethereum has lost its shine ― for one of its top developers at least.
Nick Conner, a star developer within Ethereum’s ranks, has bid adieu to the project amid simmering malcontent among several stakeholders.
“I am no longer a dot eth,” Conner wrote on X on Tuesday.
“Dot eth” is the “dot com” for Ethereum proponents, a subtle nod that turns the bearer’s online username into a mark of allegiance to the blockchain project. It’s derived from the suffix a user gets when they create an Ethereum Service Name for their wallet address.
This is the latest setback for Ethereum. It has failed to keep up with rivals Solana, XRP and Bitcoin over the past year. Despite bullishness that the launch of spot Ethereum exchange-traded funds would replicate the success of US Bitcoin ETFs, Ether’s price has trailed its rivals.
There’s even talk that XRP may end up overtaking Ethereum as the second biggest crypto.
Self-exile
Conner’s self-exile from the so-called “Ethereum maxi” ranks is deemed a visible symptom of a larger crisis brewing within the project’s community.
Eric Balchunas, senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, called the news a “bad sign” for Ethereum.
Conner co-wrote EIP-1559, a seminal change in the Ethereum code that transformed the network’s transaction fee market.
Explaining the reason for his decision, Conner said there was a misalignment between the project’s leadership and the desires of the broader community.
Many Ethereum stakeholders have expressed similar sentiments and directed their dissatisfaction towards the Ethereum Foundation, a nonprofit that oversees the project’s development.
The organisation has been criticised for failing to prop up the second-biggest cryptocurrency.
Angry Ethereans
Its critics have lampooned the foundation’s big budget and lack of network utilisation. These failings have caused Ethereum to lose ground to major rivals, they lament.
Aya Miyaguchi, the foundation’s executive director, even faces calls for her removal as the foundation’s chief.
Ethereum co-creator Vitalik Buterin has said changes were being made to the Ethereum Foundation’s leadership team.
Buterin, however, chided prominent Ethereans responsible for vitriolic comments directed at Miyaguchi and other stakeholders.
“If you ‘keep the pressure on,’ then you are creating an environment that is actively toxic to top talent,” Buterin tweeted.
He warned the dissenting crowd to tone down their rhetoric or he’d have little interest in carrying out their wishes.
Ethereum to $10,000?
To be sure, it’s not just doom and gloom for Ethereum.
When its price surged past $3,500 in November for the first time in months, analysts suggested it might be the start of a bigger rally.
UK bank Standard Chartered predicted that Donald Trump’s election win was one of the catalysts that will catapult the digital currency to $10,000 in 2025.
Other bullish signs included growing institutional interest in Ethereum and crypto in general.
Crypto market movers
- Bitcoin is up 0.7% over the past 24 hours to reach $104,175.
- Ethereum has dipped slightly over the same period to $3,276.
What we’re reading
- Bitcoin miners are flailing. Fidelity sees a fix ― DL News
- Donald Trump Frees Silk Road Founder Ross Ulbricht ― Unchained
- https://milkroad.com/daily/ethereums-civil-war/ ― Milk Road
- House Resolution Today Could Overturn Rule That Declares DeFi Projects ‘Brokers’ ― Unchained
- Prosecutor of SBF named interim head of Manhattan US attorney’s office ― DL News
Osato Avan-Nomayo is our Nigeria-based DeFi correspondent. He covers DeFi and tech. Got a tip? Please contact him at osato@dlnews.com.
