Vitalik Buterin this week outlined an Ethereum that never materialized. The protocol's founding vision placed it atop Bitcoin, leveraging Bitcoin's security without operating as a separate blockchain.
Vitalik Buterin this week outlined an Ethereum that never materialized. The protocol's founding vision placed it atop Bitcoin, leveraging Bitcoin's security without operating as a separate blockchain.
The OP_RETURN function let Bitcoin users embed data into transactions. Counterparty rode this capability to a peak ranking of 20th among cryptocurrencies by market cap. But OP_RETURN came with constraints that proved severe: capacity restrictions dropped from 80 bytes to 40 bytes. Platforms built on Bitcoin faced architectural limitations that made development difficult.
Ethereum's path involved multiple candidates. Primecoin seemed promising as a foundation before the team opted to build their own chain.
Buterin explained the choice against Bitcoin in his own language: "The very earliest versions of ETH protocol were a counterparty-style metacoin on top of primecoin. Not Bitcoin because the OP_RETURN wars were happening at the time and given what certain core developers were saying at the time, I was scared that protocol rules would change under me (eg. by banning certain ways to encode data in txs) to make it harder, and I did not want to build on a base protocol whose development team would be at war with me."
The departure from Bitcoin paid dividends. Buterin reflected on how Bitcoin's constraints shaped what Ethereum became: "So I think it's fair to say that this willingness to compromise protocol immutability to achieve a desired outcome in a particular application (hmm, sound familiar?) made ETH on BTC even then a nonstarter. That said, perhaps they did a service. Back then I never would have imagined that fees would ever be allowed to rise above $0.20."
Jihan Wu, founder of Bitmain, added his voice in support of Ethereum's direction. He pointed to the strategic choices Ethereum's creators made in distinguishing their project from Bitcoin. "I think Ethereum is very smart move, that they don't even use term including 'coin' and even letter 'B'. The name and brand is very unique," Wu said. Wu praised the other co-founders and the Ethereum Foundation for carving out a separate technological identity.
Had Ethereum remained nested in Bitcoin, major financial institutions might never have taken notice. An independent blockchain allowed the network to foster a developer community committed to open source work. Since Ethereum's 2015 launch, the cryptocurrency ecosystem transformed. Bitcoin Cash and Zcash appeared as new competitors. More cryptocurrencies will surface in the coming years, each built to address weaknesses in established networks.
