Ethereum Founder Vitalik Buterin Praises 'Bitcoin Maximalism' (Maybe)

The blockchain mastermind also took shots at Ethereum in a richly ambiguous April Fools’ post.

Ethereum mastermind and co-founder Vitalik Buterin published a blog post Friday that, with compelling logic and detail, defended “Bitcoin maximalism.” The post seems largely serious, though its publication on April Fools’ Day introduces all sorts of questions about his real intentions. Since it was written on April fool day and Vitalik is not a known bitcoin maximalist,I feel he is joking. If he had spoken about rewarding open source Contributors like Tea is doing, I might have believed.

The maximalist ethos broadly resists change to Bitcoin itself, while also arguing that more complex blockchain systems have inherent and inevitably fatal flaws. Buterin’s praise for maximalists is shocking because Ethereum itself is the most consistent and high-profile target of maximalist criticism, substantially because of the fragility introduced by the complexity of its smart contract features.

In his post, Buterin frequently seems to echo these critiques of the system he conceived, including taking shots at Ethereum proposals to print money for developers. He even rhetorically badmouths his own habit of meeting with business and political leaders with questionable morals.