Crypto Is Better Than Gold, Says Ethereum Co-founder

Key Insights

• Vitalik Buterin recently waded into the crypto versus gold debate. 
• The Ethereum founder believes that the right regulation will develop crypto instead of running after large institutional capital.
• He rarely makes suggestions on the Crypto ecosystem. 

Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum popularly known for his opinion “Empower the little guy, ‘screw’ the big guy — ‘they already have enough money,” comes on our radar again today. Even though he rarely comments on happenings in the crypto ecosystem, he seldom comments and makes suggestions when necessary. 

Recently, he made some suggestions on the cryptocurrency ecosystem. The latest suggestions are the crypto versus gold debate and the regulations that could change the crypto trajectory. 

Vitalik Buterin’s View on Crypto Ecosystem

Vitalik Buterin recently tweeted that crypto is a better asset than gold. He insisted that the decentralization feature of crypto is an exceptional characteristic that makes gold less appealing. The suggestion was made in response to Zach Weinersmith’s tweet. Zach asserted that gold fits well with what crypto enthusiasts are advocating for. 

In Vitalik’s response, he identified the key areas where gold falls short, making it less valuable to crypto. He said, “Gold is incredibly inconvenient. It’s difficult to use, particularly when transacting with untrusted parties. It doesn’t support safe storage options like multi-sig. At this point, gold has less adoption than crypto, so crypto is the better bet.”

Furthermore, the Crypto versus Gold debate generated several reactions on Twitter and across the cryptocurrency ecosystem. Vitalik’s tweet seemed to spark more reactions and has become a (sort of) investment tip. 

Buterin Suggests Crypto Regulation

Another suggestion of the Ethereum Co-founder worthy of mention is regulating the crypto space. He bears his thoughts on what industry rules should—and should not—include. 

According to Vitalik Buterin’s tweet, “Regulation that leaves the crypto space free to act internally but makes it harder for crypto projects to reach the mainstream is much less bad than regulation that intrudes on how crypto works internally.”

Instead, Vitalik Buterin wants the industry to improve regulations that could make crypto more palatable to mainstream financial institutions. Similarly, such rules will legitimize cryptocurrencies as an asset class.

He added that the rules in the crypto space are not what the industry needs to grow. The Ethereum founder said, “I don’t think we should be enthusiastically pursuing large institutional capital at full speed.” 

Similarly, he said he is “happy a lot of the ETFs are getting delayed. The ecosystem needs time to mature before we get even more attention.”

Furthermore, the right regulations will help develop the ecosystem instead of pursuing large capital (funding).