|
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin recently stated in an interview with CNBC in Prague, Czech Republic, that he used to be more optimistic about Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs). However, now he believes that CBDCs have become almost a "frontend" for traditional banking systems. He mentioned that the CBDC space was a place where he, perhaps naively, had some hope five years ago because many people wanted to do things like being blockchain-friendly, providing actual transparency and verifiability guarantees, and some degree of actual privacy. As these projects approach maturity, they will gradually disappear. The systems we end up with are not much better than existing payment systems, and they will essentially become different frontends for the existing banking system.
Vitalik Buterin thinks that CBDCs may not become private digital assets. Instead, CBDCs will allow governments and corporations to monitor users' financial transactions, making them less private and breaking down existing barriers against corporations and governments.
In Vitalik Buterin's view, Ethereum may be more resilient to government intervention, especially now that Ethereum is transitioning to a Proof of Stake (PoS) mechanism. PoS is actually more anonymous and harder to shut down than PoW. PoW requires a significant amount of physical infrastructure and electricity, which has been the focus of law enforcement investigations for decades.
To make cryptocurrencies truly effective on a global scale, Vitalik Buterin believes that it is necessary to move away from centralized entities like custodial exchanges and make the industry more user-friendly. He mentioned that while he occasionally finds coffee shops in Prague that accept Bitcoin and Ethereum payments, the issue is that these shops are all using Binance.
Vitalik Buterin praised centralized exchanges like Binance for providing a smoother user experience in the Czech Republic. However, he still believes that the industry needs to become more decentralized because centralized actors are susceptible to external pressures and internal corruption. The ideal solution is to write better code that allows users to trade directly on the blockchain.
It's worth noting that Etherscan data shows that Vitalik Buterin transferred 400 ETH (approximately $630,000) to Coinbase this morning, possibly preparing for a withdrawal.
|
This post contains more resources
You have to Login for download or view attachment(s). No Account? Register
x
|