For Shame Cryptovest Blogger...

This post is a critique of a very poorly argued article.

You can review the full article here:

https://cryptovest.com/reviews/what-is-ethereum-classic-etc-a-smart-contract-platform-betting-on-the-code-is-law-philosophy/

But First! Let Me Rant...

The beginning of his article comes out fine, a little biased, but its okay. What's he talking about? Ethereum Classic VS. Ethereum. You can find many articles out there saying essentially what he said, Ethereum has the brand name so they conclude Ethereum Classic is doomed. Yeah, well, that's what the BTC guys said about BCH and that's not exactly happening, even the conservative Digital Currency Group has tossed their hat in the ring and started betting on BCH's success.

Brand is not exactly a solid argument for why something will or will not succeed. I remember my first social media experience being on MySpace and that stupid Tom guy that I couldn't unfriend. Anyone talking about MySpace anymore? I haven't been there in years, and when I was if face and book were put in the same sentence it meant your girlfriend was violently attacking you.

His final point comes under the subheading: ETC Will Never Surpass ETH ...and that's where all the intelligence and the thinly veiled pretense of being a source of objective criticism goes out the window. What is his argument for that statement? Here's a quote:

"Although cryptocurrencies seem to be far away from reaching mainstream adoption, if this happens I don’t think that most of the users will care about the “immutability at all costs”. In fact, I don’t even believe that the vast majority of people will have in-depth knowledge about blockchains and consensus mechanisms at all."

Sure, grandma doesn't comprehend blockchain or immutability, but that doesn't mean she doesn't care about it. Everyone cares about their money and are afraid that one day it won't be there. What if that happens? Grandma won't understand why the thing she sold on Blockmarket is sold and the money was there but now the other guy has both due to a rewind that was scheduled but she had no idea it was scheduled because she is a grandma. Stupid her for not paying attention to the announcement that she doesn't know is in her email that she forgot how to access.

Look, immutability is not optional for a blockchain, if it doesn't have immutability its just a very inefficient database. If it isn't trustless then the money on it is about as useful as monopoly money..., worse, I could do several things with monopoly money, like wipe a few areas of my body with it. Now that's intrinsic value. Digital money is a joke without immutability and decentralization. If your blockchain is not immutable, you have nothing, because a database is so much better. Its like choosing to train up a beaver to cut a tree for you when the chainsaw is right there!

Saying that the majority of people don't really care about immutability and trustlessness for a blockchain is similar to the argument I hear (but even worse) about privacy not being so important. Privacy with money is pretty important, if it wasn't 10% of the world's wealth would not be in private offshore accounts, yeah, its a big deal.

However, I will concede that many retail buyers will not likely see the significance of the issue as distinctly as businesses will. Businesses will care about accuracy of the blockchain and personal control over one's assets quite a bit. Financial institutes are starting to realize the great benefits of cost savings in lawsuits and theft that can be overcame by using a decentralized and immutable record. But a centralized system in no way is better. Vitalik seems like a nice guy, but we don't know he won't rip us all. Perhaps he is Putin in disguise, until I see Vitalik shirtless on a horse to compare with Putin there's no way to know.

If immutability doesn't matter, why would Ethereum even exist? If you want a centralized, censoring, hackable platform the current system known as a database is very capable to suit your needs, and they're nice and fast. Where do people come up with this stuff?

I think Ethereum is going to remain significant throughout the next decade, but if they don't get a cap on that supply everyone sick of inflation are going to be running away from them. But that's cool, because my ether is the classy kind, and those people are welcome on ETC with its sound money and deflationary ethers. That's right, Ethereum Classic is the reliable blockchain that never rewound the chain, and that is Wei cool!