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Bitcoin Maximalist Calls Ethereum ‘Garbage’, Here’s Why

Ethereum has long been the target of criticism from die-hard Bitcoin maximalists who believe that Bitcoin is the only worthwhile cryptocurrency despite the fact that Ethereum holds the second-highest percentage of the entire cryptocurrency market value. 

Now, another Bitcoin maximalist, Steve Barbour, has referred to the leading platform for smart contracts as garbage. 

Bitcoin Maximalist Makes Controversial Claim About Ethereum

In a social media post on X, the prominent Bitcoin enthusiast recently called Ethereum “garbage” and said it has no future. His argument essentially boils down to Ethereum failing to attract investors from the free market and nothing else. 

Barbour is the founder of Upstream Data, a mining infrastructure company building off-grid Bitcoin mining rigs. His claim comes behind the heels of Ethereum staking rewards falling to new lows. 

The number of Ethereum in staking pools has been steadily growing over the past few months; however, this has not been accompanied by increased profitability. According to CoinGecko, liquid staking protocols accounted for 43.7% of the total 26.4 million ETH staked in August 2023. 

The annual percentage yield (APY) from ETH staking has decreased over the years, going from 18% in 2020 to 3% in October. Since 2022, these protocols have paid out 100,000 ETH in quarterly incentives for staking, but the low APY has led many investors to question if staking ETH is still worthwhile.

Barbour and other Bitcoin maximalists claim that Ethereum is not as decentralized as Bitcoin, particularly given that the blockchain has recently moved from proof-of-work to a proof-of-stake consensus process. 

Most of them believe that Bitcoin is the sole “true” cryptocurrency and that all other cryptocurrencies are worthless. Bitcoin maximalists have also been critical of other cryptocurrencies apart from Ethereum. Max Kaiser, another strong supporter of Bitcoin, has lately asserted that XRP is centralized.

Ethereum price chart from Tradingview.com (Bitcoin maximalist)

Responses And Reactions

Ethereum has proven itself to be more than garbage, as evident in its vast number of supporters and large ecosystem. However, some supporters of Bitcoin agreed with the maximalist.

The free market has Ethereum now at $1,550. ETH has witnessed a 1.65% drop in price in the past 24 hours, and it continues to stay weaker against Bitcoin. 

On the other hand, Bitcoin has increased in dominance against altcoins. Most of the money and attention has flowed into Bitcoin, and the crypto has witnessed a 6.39% increase in the past seven days. 

As a result, ETH bulls have struggled to push above $1,600 and the crypto is now trading around the $1,550 support zone. If bulls fail to hold this level, it could start another decline to as low as $1,430.

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The New Twitter Crypto Division Opens Up A Few Questions. Here’s What We Know

What does Jack Dorsey think about Twitter’s crypto team? That’s the question. Without fanfare or even an official statement, the new Twitter Crypto division just came into existence. They’ll cover cryptocurrencies and blockchain-related matters. New hire Tess Rinearson took to – where else? – Twitter to broadcast her new position and the direction that her leadership will take the company. “We’ll be working to figure out what crypto can do for Twitter, as well as what Twitter can do for crypto,” Rinearson said.

Related Reading | Why Is Bitcoin-Twitter Suddenly Obsessed With The Essay “Anatomy Of The State”?

About Tess herself, through her website she gets us up to speed:

“Most recently, I worked at the Interchain Foundation, where as VP of Engineering I led teams building open-source infrastructure for many leading blockchain networks, including Cosmos. Among other things, these teams were responsible for Tendermint Core, a popular proof-of-stake consensus engine, and the Inter-Blockchain Communication Protocol, a leading interoperability standard.”

Twitter price chart on FTX | Source: TradingView.com
What Do We Know About The Twitter Crypto Division?

Not much, because Twitter Crypto’s creation didn’t make the company’s blog. The team will work directly under Parag Agrawal, Twitter’s CTO. And they’re currently “hiring for roles in engineering and product.” According to Rinearson, Twitter Crypto will focus “on crypto, blockchains, and other decentralized technologies—including and going beyond cryptocurrencies.”

As I build out the team, we’ll be working to figure out what crypto can do for Twitter, as well as what Twitter can do for crypto. Twitter truly “gets” crypto (hello bitcoin tipping & NFTs!) but there’s so much more to explore here.

— Tess Rinearson (@_tessr) November 10, 2021

In her thread, Rinearson identifies three main areas of work for Twitter Crypto: 

  1. “First, we’ll be exploring how we can support the growing interest among creators to use decentralized apps to manage virtual goods and currencies, and to support their work and communities.”
  2. “Looking farther ahead, we’ll be exploring how ideas from crypto communities can help us push the boundaries of what’s possible with identity, community, ownership and more.”
  3. “And, of course, we’ll be working closely with the Bluesky team to help shape the future of decentralized social media.”

And, of course, we’ll be working closely with the @bluesky team to help shape the future of decentralized social media (and to make sure that Twitter stays on the cutting edge of this new landscape, too!).

— Tess Rinearson (@_tessr) November 10, 2021

So, essentially, Twitter Crypto will focus on integration with Web3, the Altcoin world, DeFi, smart contracts, and NFTs. Which, of course, brought every project under the sun and their marketing teams to pitch under Tess Rinearson every tweet.

This brings us to the original question.

What Would Jack Dorsey Think About The Twitter Crypto Division?

It’s no secret that Dorsey is a Bitcoin maximalist of the highest order. According to him, Bitcoin is the greatest invention of our lifetime. In the Bitcoin 2021 conference, Dorsey said  “All of the other coins, for me, don’t factor in at all.” However, even though Twitter enabled tips over the Lightning Network, the company’s actions don’t exactly match Jack Dorsey’s words. 

On the one hand, Dorsey’s talking about building a better world through Bitcoin and denouncing the rising inflation. On the other, Twitter is censoring people, adding bogus disclaimers, and deplatforming everyone who deviates from the official narrative. It seems like the CEO is not in full control of the company he created. And that makes sense if you consider all the money the social media platform produces. And all the interests that work behind the scenes for that machine to keep on moving.

Related Reading | Is Hyperinflation Inevitable? Jack Dorsey Says It’ll “Change Everything”

The new Twitter Crypto division is another proof of that fact. While it’s true that Jack Dorsey as a person wouldn’t consider other blockchains, the company he represents is clearly moving in that direction. However, it’s also true that the new team’s creation didn’t make Twitter’s official announcement channels. So, what’s really going on here? Is Twitter really testing the waters of Altcoin land? 

Let’s follow Tess Rinearson and find out.

Featured Image: Twitter Crypto screenshot from this Tweet | Charts by TradingView