Anton Bukov, the co-founder of 1inch Network, thinks that Ethereum will likely become the main settlement layer for a multi-chain decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem. 

“There is like a high chance that most of the chains will try to commit their states to Ethereum as a higher layer,” Bukov said in an exclusive interview with Cointelegraph.

Bukov, who is number 39 in Cointelegraph’s Top 100 list for 2022, acknowledges that to achieve that, Ethereum needs to solve the scalability issues that limit its transaction output.

DISCOVER COINTELEGRAPH’S TOP 100 IN CRYPTO AND BLOCKCHAIN 2022

According to Bukov, the best scaling solution for Ethereum is zk-SNARK Rollups, a technology that uses a zero-knowledge proof system to reduce the computing resources to validate transaction blocks.

“One million of gas transactions and 100 million gas transactions. Validation of these transactions on zk-Rollups would cost you the same amount of computations,” he explained.

Bukov is not interested in Bitcoin (BTC), which he sees as unsuitable for developing smart contracts. “I respect Bitcoin technology because it was the invention of all this industry, for sure, but it makes absolutely no sense for any blockchain developers,” Bukov pointed out.

Once the scalability issue is solved, Bukov thinks that Ether will have a good chance to replace Bitcoin as the largest cryptocurrency. Ether (ETH), which has long trailed Bitcoin in terms of market capitalization, accounts for 18.2% of the overall cryptocurrency market, according to CoinMarketCap. Bitcoin dominance, meanwhile, is at 42%.

“There is a high chance that Ethereum will overtake Bitcoin in terms of total capitalization,” he concluded. 

Don’t miss out the full interview on Cointelgraph YouTube channel, and don’t forget to subcribe!