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Vitalik Buterin

Ethereum’s Vitalik Buterin Is Set to Release His ”Proof of Stake” Book

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The Ethereum merge is right next door. The developers are concentrating on educating the community as the cryptocurrency sector gets ready for the much anticipated Ethereum Merge.

Vitalik Buterin, a co-founder of Ethereum, just published a book based on his essays about the development of the blockchain network over the years. The name of the book PROOF of STAKE is “The Philosophy of Blockchain and the Making of Ethereum.” The publication of the book couldn’t have come at a better moment as the community waits for Ethereum to switch to proof of stake.

Ethereum’s transition to proof of stake

On September 27, which is two weeks following the Merge deadline, the book is slated for release. A compilation of Buterin’s essays on the development of ETH throughout the years is available in Proof of Stake: The Making of Ethereum and the Philosophy of Blockchain.

Writings by the co-founder were compiled from his essays written during and before the emergence of ETHH. According to Gitcoin, the essays would show Buterin to be “a colorful and inventive writer.”

Buterin tweeted on Wednesday to herald the publication of the book. On the Gitcoin platform, readers may purchase autographed digital copies and NFTs.

Ethereum staking service started by Ethermine

The biggest ETH mining pool in the world, Ethermine, has introduced a new staking pool for users in front of the quickly approaching September (ETH) Merge. However, it should be noted that American miners cannot use it.

Members of Ethermine now have the opportunity to stake their ETH collectively and collect interest on top of their deposits thanks to the new service. Users can deposit as low as 0.1 ETH ($159). However, the cost increases with decreasing holding size. Currently, the platform provides stakers with a yearly interest rate of 4.43%.

These kind of staking pools are important because they provide competitive interest rates and lower entry hurdles than individual staking as node operators, which needs a minimum of 32 ETH to run a node.

Ethereum co-founder urges clients to upgrade; Details

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The Ethereum [ETH] network has gained attention in the cryptocurrency community as a result of the Merge. The developers have put a tremendous amount of effort into the background work as the community gets ready to switch to Proof-of-Stake [PoS]. For a while now, the ETH community has been eagerly awaiting the Merge. However, the community might be experiencing yet another development as a result of this network-wide upgrade.

Prior to the Merge, those operating nodes on the blockchain have been asked by ETH developer Vitalik Buterin to upgrade their clients.

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Source: Twitter

Buterin urged individuals operating Ethereum nodes to upgrade their clients to meet the necessary requirements even before the Merge takes place in a tweet on Monday.

The co-founder of the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency stated that even though the Beacon Chain hard fork would happen on September 6, the Merge would take place between September 10 and September 20, thus all nodes should have their clients updated before the Merge to guarantee a seamless transition.

A node is a computer network that runs the client software, whereas a client is a program necessary to allow Ethereum nodes to read blocks on the ETH blockchain and smart contracts.

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The Merge’s first stage, the Bellatrix update, is slated to be live on September 6 at 11:34:47 UTC.

In a blog post, last week, the ETH foundation stated,

“Following years of hard work, Ethereum’s proof-of-stake upgrade is finally here! The successful upgrade of all public testnets is now complete, and The Merge has been scheduled for the Ethereum mainnet.”

The much-awaited transition from a proof-of-work (PoW) consensus to a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus has numerous good effects on the network, including a 99.95% reduction in energy consumption, which has been of particular interest to many ETH supporters like Mark Cuban.

Here’s how Ethereum merge can change the idea of decentralization

The system will be negatively destabilized by the upcoming merge. ETH recently said that between September 6 and September 20, 2022, it will switch from “proof-of-work” (PoW) to “proof-of-stake” (PoS). This transition is known as a ‘merge”.

There will be significant reverberations in the area after the merge. The market value of mining Ethereum (Eth) is projected to be $19 billion, and merge is anticipated to completely shut down the industry.

Although there is a lot of excitement surrounding it, blockchain activists are worried about the occasion. According to them, merge based on PoS will put an end to “decentralization of network” and eventually result in centralization.

Entities with more tokens are given precedence over those with fewer tokens under the PoS mechanism. Larger investors have bigger profit margins, thus practically speaking, they would keep their coins to increase the manufacturing capacity. A bigger stakeholder will therefore develop more quickly than a smaller one. It would soon become unaffordable to participate in the mining business, driving away small partners and promoting centralization.

However, at the time of writing, Ethereum (ETH) was priced at $1,594.70 with a daily rise of 0.36%.

Has cryptocurrency been undermined? Here’s what the Ethereum founder has to say

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Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum, recently discussed the advantages of cryptocurrency over traditional payment methods on Twitter. Buterin claims that considering its convenience and resilience to censorship, the bitcoin sector is still underappreciated.

The 28-year-old programmer said that crypto offers a

“Big boost to international business and charity, and sometimes even payments within countries.”

Some influential figures in the sector responded to Buterin’s Tweet.

“The thing that makes cryptocurrency payments super inconvenient is taxes”

John Squire, a supporter of cryptocurrency, responded to the co-founder of Ethereum and stated that cryptocurrencies are here to stay. Squire declared:

“No matter how much they start, no matter how much they try to control crypto, they have come into our lives to stay and nothing and no one can stop it.”

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Source: Twitter

Particularly since the 2021 bull run, cryptocurrency has entered the mainstream. When big coins like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) made enormous gains immediately, many new and youthful investors flocked to the growing asset class.

Additionally, donations made in cryptocurrencies are now more prevalent than ever. To date, $54 million in bitcoin donations have been used to combat Russia in the conflict in Ukraine. Additionally, as of April 8th, daily contributions to the cause totaled $114 million. Fiat money has historically been expensive and slow to handle international payments.

Cryptocurrency being misunderstood

The bulk of individuals still do not fully comprehend the cryptoverse. Only a small number of people have made an effort to comprehend the inner workings of how transactions occur over a blockchain. Many also worry about hacks and exploits because they frequently plague space.

Bitcoin, Ethereum, and all the specialized assets in between are examples of cryptocurrencies that are still regarded as a marginal trading option. Millions of traders, even those who have dealt in fiat money for decades, nevertheless seem hesitant to accept cryptocurrencies widely. Even more so, the positions of many major corporations and countries remain dreadfully obscure.

Governmental involvement also happens from time to time. People turned to crypto donations, for instance, when the Canadian Truckers protest’s bank accounts were frozen. However, the private keys to the wallets were somehow obtained by the Canadian government. Many governments are also opposed to the use of cryptocurrencies because it undermines the authority of central banks, a key control mechanism.

There are several excellent reasons to begin using cryptocurrencies in business and to begin investing in it altogether. There are many things that can be done to profit from its advantages while waiting, even though it can take some time before starting to see any significant beneficial adoptions.

Nevertheless, the use of cryptocurrency for payments is growing. Even nations that can control and regulate a cryptocurrency have indicated interest in such a system. One of the cornerstones of the concept, the anonymity aspect of cryptocurrencies, is removed. One thing is for certain, though: crypto is here to stay, and there isn’t much the powerful can do to halt the spread of ideas.

Ethereum Co-Founder Took Aim At Bitcoin Maximalists

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Ethereum Co-Founder Vitalik Buterin lambasted BTC Maximalists particularly MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor by calling him a ‘Total Clown’ in reference to the latter’s comment on Ethereum being “inherently unethical”.

In a YouTube video, Saylor designated all cryptocurrencies other than Bitcoin as missing good ethical foundations and a “biblical” basis.

The chief exec argued that the basis of the securities laws is the Decalogue, a series of ethical and worship-related values founded on the holy scripture.

On why he doesn’t agree with the popular argument that securities laws are outdated, Saylor said, “The basis of securities laws is thou shall not lie, cheat, or steal. That’s the basis of the law.”

In response, Buterin wrote, “Why do maximalists keep picking heroes that turn out to be total clowns?”

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Ethereum Co-Founder Took Aim At Bitcoin Maximalists 5

Earlier Saylor classified Ethereum as a security, due to being issued through an initial coin offering [ICO], hard forks, having a management team, and so on. 

Again, during a recent speech at the Blockchain Economy Summit in Istanbul, the head of MicroStrategy criticized Ethereum just prior to the Merge update. 

He stated that institutional investors preferred to see the finished version of the protocol that would run without hacks for over 5–10 years. Massive upgrades at the Merge level provide new opportunities for hackers, he added.

Ethereum Community Reminded Saylor Of His History With The SEC

He also spoke on the monetary policy of cryptocurrency and that change is inevitable, while the principles for issuing and mining bitcoin are determined for the next 1000 years.

Saylor claimed that Ethereum could become unstable in the next three years which created a huge backlash.

The Ethereum community swiftly reacted to the comments and reminded the entrepreneur of how he was accused of securities fraud by the SEC all the way back in 2000.

It needs to be mentioned that Saylor paid a fine to settle with the regulator without admitting or denying charges. The firm allegedly earned massive profits despite losing money, thus artificially boosting its value.

Saylor famously lost a record-breaking $6 billion in a single day after inaccurately booked revenue was exposed.

Vitalik Buterin Believes That Terra Should Focus On Protecting the Small Investors

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Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum, believes that any suggested payment strategy for the ailing Terra project should favor tiny hodlers.

As previously reported, the Terra ecosystem went into a death spiral on May 9, resulting in Terra (LUNA) losing its US dollar peg and the TerraUSD (UST) stablecoin losing its US dollar peg, which was valued at $0.16 at the time of writing.

With LUNA and UST investors suffering significant losses, the community is now seeking methods to repair the ecosystem and provide financial assistance to many who have been harmed.

Terra’s proposal to refund all UST holders

If the UST dollar is finally stable, one community idea is to repay all original deposits (not yield) of small UST holders initially in order to “greatly enhance overall morale and attitude” while figuring out how to segregate debtors and bigger investors afterward. It is projected that the payoff will cost between $1 billion and $1.5 billion.

On Sunday, Buterin expressed support for the proposal on Twitter, saying that the focus should be on the smaller investor who needs the money, before adding that the whale hodlers should bear the loss:

“Coordinated sympathy and relief for the average UST smallholder who got told something dumb about ‘20% interest rates on the US dollar’ by an influencer, personal responsibility and [sorry for your loss] SFYL for the wealthy.”

While the Ethereum co-founder did not advocate for regulation, he did mention that potential safeguards like bank deposit insurance may be valuable in certain situations.

It’s uncertain at this point if the project will be able to recover or whether it will attempt a brief rebound to recoup investor losses, however tough that may be. It’s also worth noting that the proposal linked to Buterin’s statements has been amended this week, and it now considers paying out all users up to a $50,000 per-wallet maximum.

Another proposal floating around the internet is to create a “TERRA 2” hard fork for the Terra blockchain, as well as a liquidity pool to restore UST back to its peg.

Do Kwon, the creator of Terraform Labs, has suggested a reorganization of the Terra blockchain in order to reset “network ownership” and give 1 billion LUNA tokens to the community.

Popular players in the crypto world, such as Dogecoin (DOGE) co-founder Billy Markus, have criticized Kwon’s planned “Terra Ecosystem Revival Plan” and have asked for him to quit the industry.

Ethereum Co-founder Vitalik Buterin Still Believes That the Layer 2 Fees Are Expensive

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In response to a tweet about layer-two costs, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin stated that many of the networks are still excessively costly.

Ryan Sean Adams, an Ethereum supporter and industry expert, shared a snapshot of the top layer-two platforms and their network fees on May 3.

Arbitrum One had the highest fee of $0.85 for sending ETH and $1.19 for a token swap, while the Metis Network had the lowest fee of $0.02 for sending ETH and $0.15 for a token swap. Buterin responded to the tweet with the following:

“Needs to get under $0.05 to be truly acceptable imo. But we’re definitely making great progress, and even proto-danksharding may be enough to get us there for a while!”

Ethereum fees still at the top

Buterin has maintained his position in a 2017 interview that “the Internet of Money should not cost 5 cents per transaction.”

Buterin introduced Proto-Danksharding with EIP-4844 in February as a way to enhance the Ethereum Consensus Layer sharding method. The update allows a new form of transaction known as a “blob-carrying transaction,” which carries additional data that the Ethereum Virtual Machine does not have access to (EVM).

According to L2fees, the current cost of transferring ETH on the major layer-two networks is between $0.02 and $1.96, indicating that there is still a long way to go before the average reaches the level that Vitalik considers acceptable.

Nonetheless, they are all less expensive than transferring on layer-one Ethereum, which, according to Etherscan, costs roughly $2.50 on average.

On May 3, BitInfoCharts reported an average transaction price of roughly $16, indicating that Ethereum remains prohibitively expensive for everyday use.

When Yuga Labs started their newest NFT collection on May 1, average gas fees soared to an all-time high of over $200, eliciting even more indignation from the crypto community.

The total value locked across all L2 networks has decreased to a little over $6 billion, according to the L2beat layer-two tracker. Since the beginning of April, when it was at an all-time high of $7.4 billion, it has dropped 18 percent.

With 57 percent of the TVL, Arbitrum is the market leader, which is remarkable given that it is one of the most costly L2 networks to utilize.

The dYdX exchange is in the second position with a 16 percent market share and just under $1 billion in TVL locked up, while Optimism is in third place with a ten percent market share and roughly $622 million in TVL locked up.

Vitalik Buterin Attains Crypto-Friendly Montenegro Citizenship

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The Montenegrin government has allegedly made Ethereum developer Vitalik Buterin its newest citizen as part of its ambition to become a center for blockchain innovation.

Prime Minister Zdravko Krivokapi proposed Buterin for the honor to assist the southeastern European nation in promoting its ambitions to become a blockchain innovation hub, according to Montenegrin news site RTCB.

Although there appears to be no official notification, Minister of Finance and Social Welfare Milojko Spaji apparently shared this photo with Buterin when he obtained his passport.

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Vitalik Buterin Attains Crypto-Friendly Montenegro Citizenship 7

Vitalik is now a Montenegro citizen

On April 7, Minister Spaji hosted the Ethereum (ETH) co-founder at the Future Now panel discussion in Montenegro.

Vitalik Buterin was one of the panelists who discussed the legality of blockchain identification and smart contracts in government and other issues.

According to the local news site Mina, Prime Minister Krivokapi, Vitalik Buterin, and numerous other government officials met on April 4 to explore Montenegro’s choices in the blockchain business. One of the most crucial points raised was how to regulate cryptocurrency for his countrymen.

Minister Spaji noted that while he would like his country to be tougher on criminals in the business, he believes that fairness would help to boost growth and “eliminate the grey economy in all areas.”

He also added that “Montenegro strives to become a center of innovation in blockchain technology, emphasizing all the advantages of a legitimate industry that will bring attractive regulations.”

The government of Montenegro is now delving into the complex regulatory entanglements that come with incorporating blockchain technology into its numerous institutions.

The presenters at the Future Now event focused on how individuals may legally build a community using blockchain, as well as legally verify their identity and protect themselves from identity theft.

Decentralized autonomous organizations (DAO) might provide DAO tokens for users to validate their membership while maintaining their anonymity, according to Mamlyk. Buterin, on the other hand, stated that “there is no miraculous one-line concept” for dealing with bad actors.

Buterin responded to Wyoming when asked if Montenegro should allow corporations to register as DAOs. He believes that implementing decentralized government in this way is a “good first step” and “a good place to start” for Montenegro.

Vitalik Buterin Equates BAYC to Gambling in Time Magazine Interview

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Time magazine’s latest cover featured Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin as the most influential person in crypto. The publication termed Buterin as the “The Prince of Crypto”, where he gave his insights on the blockchain and the broader crypto industry. Throughout the 80 long minute interview, Buterin delved into how crypto can go wrong if not properly implemented.

He cautioned against overconfident investors, the exorbitant transaction fees, and the brazen displays of wealth that have now come to be associated with crypto. Turning his attention to one of the most talked-about nft projects – the BAYC, the Russian Canadian programmer equated them to gambling which he claims, has reduced to a mere “status symbol for millionaires.”

“The peril is you have these $3 million monkeys and it becomes a different kind of gambling,” he says, “There definitely are lots of people that are just buying yachts and Lambos.”

One of the major turning points for the ecosystem has been during the infamous 2016 DAO Hack that led to the creation of a hard fork to fix the project’s vulnerability. The fork was approved after receiving an overwhelming vote from the community, which in turn helped towards Ether’s price recovery. To Buterin, the DAO hack epitomized the promise of a decentralized approach to governance, the article read.

Vitalik Buterin fears Ethereum’s transformative power is at stake

Buterin hopes Ethereum will become the launchpad for all kinds of social projects. Most importantly, he wants the platform to be a force to reckon against authoritarian governments and centralized institutions. Fearing the “transformative power'” of Ethereum is at risk, he admitted to being hesitant to take on a bigger public role.

But Buterin stressed being vocal is of utmost importance, adding “If we don’t exercise our voice, the only things that get built are the things that are immediately profitable. And those are often far from what’s actually the best for the world.”

The EF, better known as Ethereum Foundation is a nonprofit established to safeguard Ethereum’s infrastructure and fund research and development projects. As per sources, its research team is currently working on two key technical updates. One of them is the “merge” which transforms the blockchain from Proof of Work to Proof of Stake.

At ETHDenver, the EF researcher Danny Ryan announced that the merge would happen within the next six months, unless “something insanely catastrophic” happens.

Vitalik Buterin slams Putin’s actions as a crime against the people of Ukraine and Russia

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On Thursday, Vitalik Buterin, the Russian-Canadian co-founder of Ethereum, lashed out at Russian President Vladimir Putin and the invasion of Ukraine. He called his vicious actions as a “crime against the Ukrainian and Russian people.”

Buterin expressed his displeasure with the Kremlin’s decision on Twitter. Just minutes after Putin stated he had launched a “special military operation” in eastern Ukraine and different media reports of explosions in towns around the former Soviet republic.

There have been words of up to 40 deaths so far as a result of early morning strikes by the Russian army and naval forces, which targeted cities including the capital Kyiv.

“Putin’s choice to forgo the chance of a diplomatic resolution to the Ukraine conflict and instead go to war has angered me much. This is a crime against the people of Ukraine and Russia.”

Vitalik made a tweet, “I want to wish everyone safety, even though I know there won’t be any. Ukraine is to be praised.”

He later stated that, although Ethereum is neutral, he is not.

Buterin has been outspoken in his opposition to rising tensions between Russia and Ukraine. He posted a tweet earlier this month that he hoped the Kremlin would “choose wisely” in its Ukraine policy.

He wrote on Twitter, “An assault on Ukraine can only hurt Russia, Ukraine, and mankind.”

“Whether the situation will return to a peaceful path or if a conflict would break out is now up to @KremlinRussia, not Zelensky or NATO. I hope they make the best decision possible. “

Vitalik who co-founded Ethereum in 2014 after getting interested in Bitcoin as a teenager, is one of the few notable corporate executives to denounce Russia’s invasion of Ukraine thus far.

Crypto sheds tears amide Russia-Ukraine tension

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies dropped to a one-month low in the hours following the start of Russia’s invasion on Thursday.

Bitcoin dropped 7.9% to $34,324 (€30,570), its lowest level since the end of January.

Other cryptos were affected by the all-out invasion of Ukraine, which was dubbed “the worst attack in Europe since the end of WWII.”

According to Coinmarketcap data, the whole cryptocurrency market has lost more than $150 billion (€133 billion) in the previous 24 hours.

Vitalik Buterin views crypto winter as beneficial to the digital asset industry

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Ethereum’s Co-founder Vitalik Buterin feels that the current market downtrend which is being viewed as another crypto winter might be in fact favorable for the digital asset industry as a whole. Referring to the ongoing price slump in the crypto market since achieving record highs in late November, Buterin believes long-term market players welcome the bear market.

But then it also invites a lot of very short-term speculative attention, he added. The recent sharp sell-off has spooked both investors and speculators who are predicting a reduction in the amount of stimulus in the wake of the Covid pandemic. Ether for one has tanked by nearly 40% during the same period. 

Since the last “crypto winter” in 2018, the sector has boomed, attracting a massive amount of investments. Besides creating overnight millionaires and billionaires, the industry has also seen several market manipulation schemes such as pumps and dumps.

For the initiated, these are a form of securities fraud that involves inflating the price of an owned stock through false and misleading positive statements, in order to sell the cheaply bought stocks or security at a higher price.

Buterin thinks winter as the determining factor for projects

Buterin in the Bloomsburg interview said that winters are the time to determine the survivability of crypto projects in the long term. Still, the 27-year-old crypto billionaire expressed surprise over how the market has evolved since last year, isn’t sure whether crypto has entered another winter or the sector is just mirroring the volatility in broader markets.

“It does feel like the crypto markets kind of flip the switch from being this niche group that’s controlled by a very niche group of participants and it’s fairly disconnected to traditional markets into something that behaves more and more like it is part of the mainstream financial markets.”

He further added that a crypto winter can also help those who are building projects in crypto focus on improving the technology.

Not all share the same with some experts even believing that the crypto market is headed towards something worse. This is what Invesco’s global head of asset allocation research, Paul Jackson told in a recent interview. The exec warned that the crypto seems to be heading for an “ice age,” where prices stay low for a prolonged period and many investors eventually lose interest.