What happened?
Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum and also known as V God, has recently been posting frequently on social media, causing his “KOL mindshare” index to rise to the top and significantly surpass the leaders in other cryptocurrency fields.
KOL mindshare refers to the attention and discussion generated by key opinion leaders (KOLs) in social media during a specific period of time.
This is because the Ethereum Foundation has been frequently selling Ether, which has received a lot of criticism from the public. In response, V God wrote a lengthy article to explain the reasons behind these sales.
V God explained that these sales are mainly used to pay developers and researchers, in order to ensure the continuous operation of the Ethereum network and maintain its Proof-of-Stake mechanism. He also pushed back against critics and asked them to “show some respect.”
Is the Ethereum Foundation “harming the investors”?
Although the cryptocurrency market entered a bull market this year, with Bitcoin reaching new price highs, Ether’s overall performance seems to be below market expectations. Many investors attribute this to the frequent selling of Ether by the Ethereum Foundation.
According to data shared by Lookonchain, an on-chain data analysis platform, on the social platform X, the Ethereum Foundation sold 100 Ether (worth nearly $260,000) on October 15th. As of now, they have sold a total of 3,966 Ether (nearly $11 million) this year, causing concerns in the market and dissatisfaction among investors, who accuse the Foundation of “harming the investors.”
V God recently responded on X, stating that he himself has not sold any Ether in the past month, and has even increased his holdings. As for the Ethereum Foundation, they need to bear the operational costs of the Ethereum network.
V God emphasized that since 2016, the Ethereum network has never experienced any downtime and can complete transactions in less than 30 seconds. Additionally, it provides various functionalities such as zero-knowledge proofs. He believes that critics should “show some respect” for these achievements.
Operating Ethereum requires funding!
The Ethereum Foundation has been working with researchers to ensure that transactions on the blockchain are fast and cheap, with each transaction being processed within 30 seconds and avoiding skyrocketing transaction fees. Additionally, the Foundation is actively developing zero-knowledge technology to create a better user environment, which requires expenses and operational costs.
However, V God’s explanation did not satisfy everyone. Some netizens quickly questioned why the Foundation doesn’t stake all the Ether to earn profits and cover the costs. Does this mean they lack confidence in the Proof of Stake mechanism?
To this, V God explained that the Foundation wants to avoid being forced to make an “official choice” in the event of a controversial hard fork.
Nevertheless, V God also mentioned that the Foundation is considering other types of staking methods, such as providing grants for staked Ether, allowing recipients to control the withdrawal time and retain staking rewards. Additionally, the Foundation does not rule out the possibility of delegating staking responsibilities to other institutions in the future.
In response to the commotion in the community, V God firmly stated, “We are now a little better than we were two years ago.”
Reference:
cointelegraph, beincrypto