Ethereum (ETH) founder Vitalik Buterin and his father Dmitry ‘Dima’ Buterin talk about the crypto market, volatility and speculators. In an interview with Fortune Magazine, Buterin claimed that he is not currently concerned about the falling price of ETH.
“Crypto has had previous ups and downs”
Buterin and his father say they are used to votality. Ethereum fell from an ATH above USD 4,500 to below USD 1,000. These prices were last seen in 2020.
Since its inception in 2014, Ethereum has seen similar or worse declines. In 2017, the cryptocurrency reached its previous ATH. This was close to $1,500, but crashed below $100 in the following months.
This is why Buterin and Dima claimed they are not concerned about the recent bearish pressure. They prefer to highlight the potential use cases of crypto beyond finance, Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) and some of the other popular use cases. Vitalik Buterin said the following:
Crypto has had ups and downs before and will have ups and downs again. The down periods are certainly challenging, although they are also often the periods when the most meaningful projects are nurtured and built.
Ethereum wants to expand into new territory
Buterin is more concerned about speculators and short-term investors trying to make a quick profit. He believes the Ethereum network can move beyond financial use cases and expects it to expand into new territory.
Cryptocurrencies can be used to support donation networks, such as Buterin’s contributions to Ukraine with Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs). Burkin recently referred to “soulbound tokens” and how they can improve people’s internet experience.
Looking back at the early days of Ethereum, and what it has become now, Buterin said:
At first I thought it would be something very small. Then I thought it might be something interesting. What I didn’t see coming is how big the crypto space got first in 2017 and then in 2021. I think some of this rapid growth was definitely a big surprise to me.
The Future of Ethereum
Ethereum, the second largest cryptocurrency on the list of the largest market cap, is currently changing its consensus algorithm. From Proof-of-Work (PoW) to Proof-of-Stake (PoS), the network is said to become more scalable while reducing environmental impact.
At the moment, while the crypto market is in the red, Buterin expects the network to continue to grow and “get more mature”. Buterin expects it to “fulfill the hopes and dreams of millions of people” in the coming years.
Buterin’s father emphasized the cyclical nature of the market and why crypto will always have ups and downs periods. Dim said this time around, ETH could be moving towards the “age of mass adoption”.
This could come true if core developers manage to launch “The Merge” on mainnet. If successful, ETH’s transition to its new consensus model could be completed. They have also introduced technologies that help to improve scalability. Dima Buterin finally said the following:
It’s never a straight line. It’s not that smooth. There is a lot of fear right now. There is much doubt (…). Nothing changes for me [in termen van vooruitzichten]† There is a little bit of fear in the short term and speculators will be washed away, and yes, unfortunately there will be some suffering and pain, and then life goes on.