A Consultant at Mavens of London, Vlad Zamfir has stated that Ethereum is not safe, scalable and an immature experimental technology. Zamfir has, therefore, urged the community not to rely on it for critical mission applications except if it is utterly unavoidable.
This sedate observation was first made in a Twitter post, and later, the POS aficionados and researchers took to his blog to elaborate it. It comes as very surprising looking at where it is coming from since Zamfir is a leading member of the Ethereum community.
The Digital Analyst wrote:
"I say it because I want you to understand where I’m coming from when I react to feeling euphoria in the Ethereum community. I felt euphoria for about the first eight to 12 months of becoming involved in Ethereum— I am not feeling any euphoria anymore. I am mostly filled with concern about how everything could go horribly wrong, with feelings of being overwhelmed, with being unable to keep up with everything that I feel requires my attention."
He recognizes the fact that when the Ethereum community grows with Ether price going up, many more people will come to depend on the platform stationing decentralized applications on it and that the situation will make the network heavier but not lighter.
"While you are feeling growing euphoria because you think Ethereum is definitely the best Blockchain around, I am feeling more concerned and more stressed," Zamfir communicated.
Ethereum’s crisis
There has been a lot of controversies surrounding Ethereum in recent times. The platform witnessed a lot of criticism and attacks last year. So far it has undergone four hard forks with the second being the most provocative.
Actually, this particular fork altered the network's transaction history resulting in splitting the network into two. That was the genesis of the birth of Ethereum Classic.
Zamfir noted in his blog post that Blockchains are not toys, they are neither get rich quick schemes nor a shiny tool for automating business processes.
"They are powerful technology that have the potential to do unspeakable harm. But they can also provide the basis for solutions to serious global problems," he pointed out.
However, he maintains he is not rubbishing Ethereum because it is not an exciting technology or he doesn't care about all the work the community is doing. He claims he is very optimistic about the future of the platform but troubled by the no room for opposition.
Zamfir explained further:
"I didn’t make that tweet because Ethereum isn’t safe or scalable, really, I did it because I find the current level of euphoria quite offensive. Maybe it isn’t my place to keep euphoria in check. Maybe it is. I don’t know. But I will probably continue to express myself by turning my feelings into radical, unnuanced tweets nonetheless."
Is Ethereum safe?
Moreso, the consultant admitted Ethereum is not safe and he cannot guarantee there won't be a 51 percent attack on the network unless there is a hard fork to minimize the damage. Likewise, on smart contracts, he has the same opinion.
Interestingly, he conceded a lot of smart people in the Ethereum community are working hard to make Ethereum safe and secure with smart contract formal verification efforts and with proof-of-stake consensus protocol research.
"I think that we will continue to make steady and impressive progress on these safety problems," Zamfir acknowledged.
In the final Analysis, the Ethereum enthusiast doesn't think Ethereum is safe or scalable but optimistic that it will get better:
"Granted that all Blockchains suck. Is Ethereum at least more safe or scalable than other Blockchains? Maybe. But that is a nuanced discussion that won’t fit in this margin."