In wake of the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control’s (OFAC) Tornado Cash penalties earlier this month, the cryptocurrency industry has been filled with rumours about the potential censorship of Ethereum.
Cyber Capital CEO and cryptocurrency researcher Justin Bons sees a fork in the road for both investors and developers as Ethereum prepares to make the switch from proof-of-work (PoW) to proof-of-stake (PoS).
Social slashing and uncertain governance, according to Bons, are the greatest internal threats to Ethereum. Here is why he believes Ethereum is on the cusp of several splits that might be disastrous for the second-largest blockchain.
Crypto fans despise censorship, hence there have been discussions on Twitter concerning a user-activated soft fork (UASF) on Ethereum to combat the blacklisting of Tornado Cash users. Due to what is known as social slashing, some commentators believe Ethereum’s move to PoS might facilitate a UASF. Slashing is a method for penalizing dishonest Ethereum transaction validators with penalties.
Justin Bons said in a 21-part Twitter discussion on August 22 that social cutting is a trap that might lead to the exact censorship concerns it aims to eliminate. According to Bons, ETH’s Proof-of-Stake (PoS) blockchain is currently censorship-resistant; thus, social slashing should be seen as a measure of last resort, since the repercussions would severely harm the whole ETH ecosystem.
With Ethereum’s forthcoming proof-of-stake mechanism, validators will safeguard the network by securing ETH, the network’s native coin. This wager will be forfeited in the event of misconduct. Bons believes that social welfare violates the property and self-determination rights of individuals.
He even claims that the anticipated Ethereum social slashing “represents a higher danger than OFAC regulation.”
Also Read: Senator From Texas Praises Bitcoin Mining As ‘Environmentally Positive’
Wallets