Ethereum and Computer Language

[dnprock]

Hi everyone,

I'm Bitflate developer. I don't usually dive into other crypto. But some reader asks me for my view on Ethereum.

Original Post: https://bitflate.org/post/2019/11/16/ethereum-and-computer-language.html

Bitflate is a cryptocurrency with constant inflation of 7% per year.
This article reflects author’s opinion, not Bitflate community.

When I first got into crypto in 2017, the first project I looked at was Ethereum (ETH). It captured a lot of attention from the market. I’m a developer so I have the skills to dig around a ETH development framework, such as Truffle. I find the whole ecosystem confusing. The idea of smart contract and programmable blockchain sounds fancy. But like many things in software, fancy is a gloss for complex technology that doesn’t work. I followed ETH development. I didn’t find a good and simple use case that really gains adoption. I think CryptoKitties was probably the most notable project.

After ETH, I studied Bitcoin (BTC). I find it is more focused. BTC only wants to be money, in particular, digital gold. BTC clearly captured this market. ETH is like a research project. ETH is general purpose and programmable. It lacks focus. Their leaders often change narrative and pitch endless new ideas.

It is easy to go down the rabbit hole and attack each other. Some readers challenge my view on ETH. I write this article to explain my view about its prospect in the market.

Three success factors in crypto: use case, use case, use case

I use this real estate adage (location, location, location) to emphasize the importance of use case. Cryptocurrency is a new space. The most important factor that determines long-term success for a crypto is use case. For example, Bitcoin (BTC) is digital gold. zcash and Monero are privacy coins. Dogecoin is meme, fun, tip coin. Bitflate is inflating coin.

ETH pitch is general purpose, programmable blockchain. It is supposed to conquer all markets. But since it is general purpose, it doesn’t do anything particularly well. In digital gold use case, it is trailing far behind Bitcoin. Its programmable capability opens gateway for scams. Post ICO craze, ETH community has moved on to the next pitch, decentralized finance, DeFi.

It is easy to look at ETH history and point out many flaws. But if we think of it as an experimental, research project, we can learn some things from it. I suspect BTC sidechain idea is an effort to compete with ETH. Not everything in ETH is bad. But how do we gauge its success? From my software background, comparing ETH to computer language will give us some glimpse about ETH prospect.

Ethereum as computer language

Ethereum is a programmable blockchain. It’s supposed to be programmable, like a computer language. I find they share similarities. Computer language is obviously programmable . One lesser known fact about computer language is almost all of them are general purpose. That means you can actually program anything with a particular language. For example, Java is a high level programming language. But it’s possible to program an operating using Java. This is an interesting feature but it is also very confusing. Occasionally, people will use programming language in very different use cases.

Programming language shines in specific use case

Each language is optimized and used for a very specific market. For example, when it comes to operating system, the dominant language is C. In enterprise software application, it is Java. PHP is a language that is used for web development. It doesn’t find much use outside of web development. In some cases, we find languages with multiple use cases. For example, Python started out as a scripting language, then it got adopted for web applications, and recently data science.

Drawing from computer language analogy, for ETH to succeed, it needs to find a specific use case. If ETH community keeps pitching general purpose blockchain, they diminish ETH long term prospect.

Polymorphic Ethereum

It is possible for Ethereum to be general purpose for a long time. It can be a fun research project for many years. Eventually, somebody will come up with a working scenario. This occasionally happens in computer language. Ruby is a lesser known programming language. It was invented in 1995. It did not find any success until around 2005. Interest in Ruby surged because a programmer, David Heinemeier Hansson (DHH), invented Rails, a new way to program web application. He decided to use Ruby as the underlying language.

Perhaps, around year 2025, an Ethereum DHH will appear and figure out a cool use case for Ethereum. Even then, it is good to remember that even with Ruby, its use case is limited to Rails. The applicable Ethereum use case will be very specific. It will not be what we see today in the market.

Disclosure: I’m long Bitcoin (BTC) and Biflate (BFL).

[NoirSuccubus]

Wow, that's a great topic, buddy. Ethereum is very popular in the crypto community and I am a big fan of Ethereum. However, I have never read anything like this about the king of altcoins. I want to learn more about Ethereum after reading this.

[BChydro]

It is possible for Ethereum to be general purpose for a long time. It can be a fun research project for many years. Eventually, somebody will come up with a working scenario. This occasionally happens in computer language. Ruby is a lesser known programming language. It was invented in 1995. It did not find any success until around 2005. Interest in Ruby surged because a programmer, David Heinemeier Hansson (DHH), invented Rails, a new way to program web application. He decided to use Ruby as the underlying language.

Perhaps, around year 2025, an Ethereum DHH will appear and figure out a cool use case for Ethereum. Even then, it is good to remember that even with Ruby, its use case is limited to Rails. The applicable Ethereum use case will be very specific. It will not be what we see today in the market.

Disclosure: I’m long Bitcoin (BTC) and Biflate (BFL).

This is the real story behind Etherum, it is useless as of now and i do not understand why majority here are bullish about it, they will learn the hard way if you are viewing it as an investment, i am long on bitcoin and the top coins in the market but not ETH because i do not think that a DHH will appear to rescue ETH as they will create their own project rather than using a bloated system  .

[Katashi]

OP has a good point and base on the statement, there is some programming language that was ignored before then find it's use case after so many years which means that even Ethereum or other cryptocurrencies have a chance to grow since there's still room for improvement. I'm not a die-hard fan of Ethereum but because of their platform, a lot of opportunities were open for new projects whether it's legit or not.

[dnprock]

OP has a good point and base on the statement, there is some programming language that was ignored before then find it's use case after so many years which means that even Ethereum or other cryptocurrencies have a chance to grow since there's still room for improvement. I'm not a die-hard fan of Ethereum but because of their platform, a lot of opportunities were open for new projects whether it's legit or not.

Ruby is a rare exception. Thousands of languages fade into irrelevance. The chance of Ethereum finding a working use case is low. The media and hype about ETH actually hurts its development. If there is ever a working use case, other chains will immediately copy.

I created a crypto with constant inflation, Bitflate. I decided to stay with Bitcoin-based. I think Bitcoin framework is better for money. There're also lots of other Bitcoin forks to choose from. It'll be hard to compete with specialized forks of Bitcoin.

[dnprock]

There's a lot of confusion between ETH and BTC. It's hard to get a clear picture about the market. BTC fans are critical of ETH because they see scammy, changing narratives from ETH. ETH fans are critical of BTC maximalism. I think in the end, both chains want/need to achieve maximalism. Many ideas on ETH won't work if it doesn't achieve maximalism. For example, it always costs more to generate DAI stablecoin than just use Tether/USDC. DAI, if works, is very inefficient. The only way for DAI to work is people have all money in ETH. Then DAI can be competitive to pegged stablecoins. ETH fans often delude themselves or fail to see this maximalism assumption.

ETH is a monolithic, more centralized, platform. It competes using features. But BTC with its minion forks and stablecoins are more efficient.