IOHK CEO and Ether co-founder, Charles Hoskinson, has argued that Bitcoin sits at a significant competitive disadvantage owing to the slow rates and will be usurped by proof-of-stake networks.
At a five-hour Podcast with computer scientist and AI researcher, Lex Fridman, the Cardano founder argued that proof-of-stake networks supplying exceptional speed and performance over the original cryptocurrency, stating:
„The issue with Bitcoin is it is so slow — it’s similar to the mainframe programming of yesteryear. The only reason it’s still around is because there’s so much invested in maintaining it around.“
„You have to upgrade the damn thing!“ Hoskinson exclaimed regarding Bitcoin’s underlying Proof-of-Work consensus mechanism, emphasizing that Bitcoin’s programmatic usefulness lags behind its competitors.
Hoskinson also criticized the Bitcoin community to be unwilling to innovate beyond the cryptocurrency’s base-layer, also describing Bitcoin’s second-layer scaling options as“highly fragile.“
It has the network effects, it’s the brand name, it’s the regulatory acceptance. However, there’s no way to alter the systemcorrecting obvious downsides in that system“
However, Cardano’s founder argued that Ether has risen to rival Bitcoin’s network, but has a nimble development culture that adopts evolution.
„What’s really cool is that Ether does not suffer that issue […] it’s getting to the point where it has the Exact Same network impact since Bitcoin, but the community has a completely different culture, they love evolving and upgrading,“ he said, including:
„If I had to wager between only those two systems, I’d say nine times out of ten Ether will win the fight against Bitcoin.“
Hoskinson did however admit the battle for crypto dominance is a“much more intricate game“ than competition between Bitcoin and Ether, asserting many other blockchains are now vying for important blockchain market share, unsurprisingly naming Cardano amongst others.
