Vitalik Buterin: Bitcoin More Likely Than Ethereum to Split in 2017

As the lead developer of Ethereum, Vitalik Buterin counters the view by the founder of the International Blockchain Real Estate Association, in hinting that Bitcoin is more likely than Ethereum to split into two in 2017.

He stated in a tweet to Ragnar Lifthrasir:

@Ragnarly Past performance not indicative of future results; I actually think BTC is more likely than ETH to split in 2 in 2017 — Vitalik Buterin (@VitalikButerin) December 30, 2016

Lifthrasir had, in his response to the news that the United Arab Emirates is using Ethereum (ConsenSys) to conduct a real estate records pilot program, described the UAE as “being irresponsible for using Ethereum (ConsenSys) over Bitcoin” for the program.

He stated that: “Ethereum is a terrible choice for a real estate database.” His argument is based on the view that real estate records need to exist for decades and that “Ethereum is too unstable, too mutable, too unproven compared to Bitcoin to be used for a real estate database.”

He also cited the exploitation of $150 mln worth organization The DAO in June 2016, the subsequent hard fork that split Ethereum miners, the network’s history of bugs and errors and the uncertainty of Ethereum developers to switch from Proof of Work to Proof of Stake consensus algorithm.

Lifthrasir thinks that the 400,000-times greater hashing power of Bitcoin and its 23-time bigger market cap make it a better choice for the real estate database instead of Ethereum.

Buterin later added:

@Ragnarly To clarify I’m referring to an ETC/ETH style fork, not accidental consensus splits — Vitalik Buterin (@VitalikButerin) December 30, 2016

In another tweet, he says:

@Ragnarly Or, they can just... choose the chain that makes sense. — Vitalik Buterin (@VitalikButerin) December 30, 2016

He added elsewhere that the notion “that Blockchains are “all about” one-X-to-rule-them-all is silly maximalism.”

For John Lilic, the co-founder of Code to Inspire and a ConsenSys LLC member, he thinks: “Not like as if the UAE did not consider #Bitcoin or other tech. They arrived at #Ethereum after careful consideration #TechWinsOverFeelings.”

Buterin has since published “A Proof of Stake Design Philosophy” which is his own views on why proof of stake protocols exist and how to design them.