In a sweeping, 2,500-word blog post today, Fred Ehrsam, the co-founder of one of the best funded blockchain startups, Coinbase, took aim at what he called a "stagnant" bitcoin community that he characterized as being outperformed by innovators working on the Ethereum network.
Coinciding with the rebranding of the Coinbase exchange and the launch of trading for Ethereum ‘s blockchain token, ether, the public comments are the latest sign that Coinbase leadership remains dissatisfied with what they perceive as a lack of progress among bitcoin’s developers and with the technology as a whole.
In the post , Ehrsam sought to position Ethereum as a possible competitor to bitcoin, indicating his belief that the competing protocol could "blow past bitcoin entirely".
Ehrsam wrote: "There is nothing that bitcoin can do which Ethereum can’t. While Ethereum is less battle tested, it is moving faster, has better leadership and has more developer mindshare. First mover advantage is challenging to overcome, but at current pace, it’s conceivable." The statements follow months of tensions between the once fast-growing startup and the bitcoin community, which found CEO Brian Armstrong often calling vocally for bitcoin developers to increase a limit on the amount of data that could be included in blocks on the bitcoin blockchain.
Armstrong sought to position this inaction as a limiter of growth on the network as a whole, a position that showcased the divisions between bitcoin developers and its business community that saw this as a roadblock to new customer onboarding.
Still, Ehrsam sought to position Ethereum as moving the development of "digital currency" and its technology forward, emphasizing that Coinbase intends to support both protocols, and that it sees them growing together to become “low-level protocols” in what could be a new Internet for value exchange.
"Competition and new ideas create better outcomes for everyone. Even if […]
