Ethereum Still Cannot Compete With Bitcoin, Says Bitfinex and Tether CTO

The Merge which happened in the early hours of today has stirred a lot of positive and negative reviews in the crypto industry. 

Many have opined that the Merge might place Ethereum (ETH) at a peak or at least close to Bitcoin (BTC), the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. This sentiment follows the successful Merge event and the transition from the proof-of-work (PoW) consensus mechanism that BTC currently utilizes, to a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism. 

Paolo Ardoino Chief Technology Officer at Bitfinex and Tether issued a statement about the Merge saying that the upgrade will not put ETH in first place above BTC, especially as a form of money. 

“While Bitcoin is a form of money, Ethereum is stuck between claims of being a form of money and claims of being a platform, but ETH cannot compete with Bitcoin on the money front because there is no fixed supply, and it isn’t really a world computer yet because it has a shared global state and hence too slow to be scalable.”

Additionally, he spoke on the issue of decentralization which according to him, will not improve with the Merge. 

“The Merge will not fix transaction fees or make Ethereum any more decentralized,” he said, adding that “the real message here isn’t what the Merge will change but what asset already exists that provides the core themes of our industry, which includes true decentralization. The fact of the matter is that Bitcoin is the only asset out there that has a solid narrative, one that hasn’t changed. Ethereum still doesn’t match Bitcoin because its narrative keeps shifting.”

The Merge Has Upgraded Ethereum

Truly, ETH is about to experience a significant transitional upgrade which eventually will provide it with exceptional relevance in the blockchain ecosystem. 

In view of the Merge, it was announced that the Ethereum energy consumption will reduce by up to 99.95%. Also, the speed of transactions gets faster even as the Merge sets the stage for further scalability upgrade which was previously unavailable on the PoW. 

With all of these in mind, Ethereum has inched further to offer more security, scalability, and sustainability. Bitcoin might have to follow Ethereum’s stride and transition to the PoS consensus mechanism. Paolo also mentioned that his company is in full support of the Merge.