Why ETC Should Die
Let me preface this by saying I know that Ethereum Classic won’t die. Unlike a fiat currency which is held together by law, a digital currency is held together by distributed code. By definition, distributed code will long outlast law. As long as the Internet exists, ETC will exist.
But ETC should die, and here’s why:
A speculator-led blockchain can't contribute significant value to the world
Speculators play an important role in a blockchain ecosystem. Without them, Bitcoin and Ethereum would not be where they are today. But they play a secondary role in any strong ecosystem. The leaders must be the people creating something new in the world: the developers.
The group of people that created the detailed product roadmap that gets Ethereum from beta to v1 of production (led by Vitalik) and have executed on that roadmap are leading the ETH blockchain. The applications being built on Ethereum, like Augur, Gnosis, Digix and Maker, are built on the ETH blockchain. All of the innovation to date in Ethereum has been led by the people on the ETH blockchain.
Speculators are leading ETC. They gave it value and their vocal nature and willingness to speculate on price drove the price up, which attracted the miners. Developers were actually last to join the ETC party. One of the most alarming tweets I saw from a speculator was:
Digital currencies are not about speculators, they are about innovators and ETH has virtually the entire concentration of creative minds focused on fulfilling the vision set forth in the Yellow paper. Barry is right that the market should select the winner. And the winner will be not the blockchain that's supported by the people who are loudest on Twitter. It will be the blockchain where all of the creation is happening.
Choice for users can be good. Choice with no purpose is bad
Critics of this argument will suggest there are developers planning to built the ETC protocol and build on top of ETC. They will argue that choice for users is good and that immutability rules over all else.
These people are not thinking practically. The reality is that Ethereum is in the early infancy of its growth. It’s still a beta product that hasn’t even reached live production stage. And as stated, all of the people best equipped to get the project to v1 of production are on ETH. While it's possible, it's a stretch to think that a new group of developers might be able to bring the vision of Ethereum to the world.
At this point in development, choice for users of a distributed virtual machine hurts more than it helps. It confuses the whole concept of Ethereum to many prospective new users and would be better served dying than existing.
I’ve yet to hear a strong argument on why Ethereum Classic should exist but I’d like to hear one if it's out there. Please share in the comments
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"I’ve yet to hear a strong argument on why Ethereum Classic should exist but I’d like to hear one if it's out there."
Immutability. A simple word, but yet so powerful. While ETH is out looking to partner with biggest bank and favor the winners, ETC stays true to the core philosophy. Once again ETH favored another winner by integrating coinbase in the latest mist update without consolidating with other providers. It's a strange behavior for a non-profit foundation. Ethereum Classic is the original chain and got all the right in the world to exist. Playing god, saying what's to live and what's die is a dangerous game, and similar to the special interest game the Ethereum foundation is currently playing.
In the early days of a blockchains creation, immutability is just one consideration. I would argue that it should not be the only consideration. I actually was not supportive of the hard fork but at the end of the day the consensus decision was made. The innovators should be supported moving forward.
Indeed, by any means should this be the only consideration. For some however this is a requirement that has to be met. You have made some really good points in your post with the major developer supporting the hard fork, and some currently develop exclusively for the hard forked ETH.
However, saying that a consensus was reach is not really the truth. 5% of all coins voted, the voting time was severely limited, and most of the votes came form big holders.
I hear you. I'm not really arguing about the conditions though, just the best path forward given the conditions.
https://steemit.com/ethereum/@crossroads/eth-vs-etc-what-matters-is-the-future
I still got some etc. Why should it die?
the simple answer is that all of the talented developers and innovation is on the ETH blockchain and ETC is detrimental to progress of the greater Ethereum project
@ntomaino do you even follow ETC. And you think that charles Hoskinson is a bad developers and his personal. We have alot of good developers.
Its seems you have a tunnel vision. Maybe go out of the tunnel and check something else then only ETH.
Admittedly, no I don't. I could be wrong and they could have some really great plans in which case my argument is completely off.
I believe that the vast majority of the brilliant minds that were part of the Ethereum founding team that is now on ETH though, so by default ETC is far inferior in my mind. Charles Hoskinson seems like more of a business/marketing guy which doesn't generally signify a great leader of an open-source project, but I could be wrong.
If ETC remains in existance, would it detract from ETH? If not, then let it exist like any of the other 100's of crypto out there. If it's a detriment, then a slow, painful death might be enjoyable.
I think it's detrimental to the brand and progress of Ethereum to have two blockchains. I know that it won't die, but it should
Your statement at the beginning kinda glosses over a few hypotheticals and a law that outlaws the internet but maybe that's just splitting hairs. Etc might just be a junk coin people are mining because its cheaper then Ether core. I imagine its going to behave like stellar in relation to Ripple, not quite being able to surpass the original. I rather stick with the core honestly as I can see its potential and slock.it seems like a really good idea.
I am one of the "speculators" who bought about 50,000 ETC when the price crashed below .0001 when Poloniex first released it. I can respect your views and hopefully what I say next will give you some perspective, and if you need a better understanding of views of crypto, check my blog, I don't operate based on greed. I really do mean that and my actions and investment were towards what I feel is corporate manipulation infiltrating crypto. I don't think a foundation should be able to change transactions on a block chain for any reason. I think when they decided to bail out the DAO, and I won't get into the conspiracies many of us see about the "hack" in the first place, they violated the general nature of crypto currencies. I firmly believe that allowing for that manipulation and not fighting back sets the stage for future bailouts of coins to protect the interest of individuals over the interest of the platform as a whole. I can't imagine an extremely intelligent individual capable of recreating Java without the glaring holes in Java would allow a redundancy of that magnitude without it being intentional. I have never been pro Eth because until recently I didn't like the concept of a non finite supply of currency. The more I think about the Ethereum platform, and steem, as well as other block chain based services, I am learning that they way these "coins" operate and function basically requires the supply to be flexible. I have gotten past my initial ponzi scheme view of such coins by considering them as a commodity versus a currency, but I still feel that what the Ethereum Foundation did is not in the best interest of the crypto community. A ship doesn't sink in the ocean losing 30 million dollars worth of oil, and BP or Shell or whoever gets to say that it wasn't fair and go back in time and undo the loss. The market takes a hit and we move forward. Block chains cannot be allowed to move backwards at will as it violates the nature of immutability and hurts the fundamental ideology that crypto is built upon. I am sorry for anyone that lost money in the DAO attack, and I wish more people had read the terms of the contract when submitting their Ethereum for DAO tokens. I believe the whole concept of the DAO is actually great and although I couldn't see the value in Ethereum at the time, or even ETC when I bought it, I did see the value in fighting the greed and manipulation that are rampant in fiat currency. I can't see a bailout in crypto and put any faith or value in a crypto that has allowed for one. In my mind and my moral principals bailouts don't exist. You can't say that it wasn't a bailout, because it was by every definition related to finance, and you can't convince me that the Ethereum Foundation didn't have the largest stake invested into the DAO. I didn't buy into ETC to get rich, and I honestly figured I was throwing away Bitcoin by keeping the price from crashing through the floor. Others must have felt the same way, because I would have burnt through most of my Bitcoins keeping the price up if other large players didn't also chip in to support the price. I can't speak for anyone's motives but my own. I can just assure you that I didn't do it "speculate" on a price or hurt people that were dumping ETC, I did it to protect the integrity of the world I want to see exist in my lifetime.
Thanks for this. It's a great perspective and congrats on the ETC purchase. So I guess where we differ here is that you think that an immutable blockchain is best for the world, and I think an innovative blockchain that developers can build new use cases on is best for the world.
I would argue that we already have an immutable blockchain and its called the Bitcoin blockchain. I believe having one immutable blockchain to rule all as well as a flexible blockchain that can lead to innovative new use cases (led by the developers who had the vision) is the best approach to bring decentralization to the world, but we will see!
https://steemit.com/ethereum/@dutchpainter/parity-scenario-etc-eth-difficulty-war-mining-for-hashpower-can-lead-tot-50-50-mining
i'm sorry, i stopped reading when i saw tone vays
ETH is the bastard step-son that no one want to collect from school. $25B remains unclaimed in the DAO!
p.s. NO COIN can ever die until the last miner switches off - just look at Wankcoin! (its still trucking on!)
did you read my first few sentences? :)
Your first sentence does imply a little that you wish it to die.