ALGO

CointestMod

#Ethereum Con-Arguments Below is an argument written by Maleficent_Plankton which won 1st place in the Ethereum Con-Arguments topic for a prior [Cointest](/r/CointestOfficial/wiki/cointest_policy) round. Submit an argument in the Cointest yourself and earn Moons if you win. Moon prizes are: 1st - 600, 2nd - 300, 3rd - 150, and Best Analysis - 500. > Ethereum has drastically changed in the past year now that it has rebranded itself as **Consensus/Settlement layer** for other Layer 2 Execution/Rollup networks. It is no longer trying to be a monolithic blockchain by itself. Because of this shift in design, many of its former CONs are no longer major issues. And many of the CONs that still exist often have a beneficial sides. > > I discuss the CONs of Ethereum and their impact on its users here: > > ## CONs > > **Gas Fees** (major): > > The biggest complaint for Ethereum is its network gas fees. Every transaction needs gas to pay for storage and processing power, and gas prices vary based on demand. Gas price is very volatile and often changes 2-5x in magnitude within the same day. ERC20 transfers are used for a large percentage of cryptocurrencies, and it's the reason much of DeFi is extremely expensive. If I wanted to send ERC20 tokens between exchanges, it's often cheaper to trade for XRP, ALGO, or some other microtransaction coin, transfer it using their other coin's native network, and then trade back into the original token. Basically: use a coin on a different network to avoid fees. > > Typical transaction fees for Ethereum were [between $2-10 over the past year](https://etherscan.io/chart/avg-txfee-usd), but they have shot up to $50+ several times in 2021. > > And that's just for basic transactions. Anyone who has tried to use more complex smart contracts like moving MATIC from Polygon mainnet back to ETH L1 mainnet during a time of high gas fees mid-year in 2021 saw $100-$200 gas fees. Transferring ERC-20 tokens (often $20-50) is also more gas expensive because it can't be done through native transfers like on the Cardano network. It's impractical to use swaps like Uniswap for small transactions due to these fees. > > In particular, One/Many-to-many batch transactions are extremely gas-expensive using Ethereum's account-based model compared to Bitcoin's and Cardano's UXTO-based model. [This batch transaction on Ethereum](https://etherscan.io/tx/0x0fe2542079644e107cbf13690eb9c2c65963ccb79089ff96bfaf8dced2331c92) cost over $5000 while [a similar eUXTO transaction on Cardano](https://adapools.org/transactions/e586c6340ee9e60a6c64f447feffe5f89bdabc7741666ecaa681081957938f56) only cost $0.50 in fees. > > On the other hand, these fees provide Ethereum long-term economic sustainability and resilience against DDoS and spam attacks. > > **Competition from other Smart Contract networks** (moderate): > > Ethereum has enjoyed its lead as the smart contract blockchain due to first-mover advantage. But there are now many efficient smart contract competitors like Algorand, Solana, and Cardano. Ethereum is now facing much competition. Who wants to pay $20 gas fees on Ethereum when you can get similar transactions for under $0.01 with Algo and Solana or $0.30 transactions with Cardano? > > Fortunately, the amount of competition is limited because Ethereum is positioning itself as a Settlement layer whereas these other networks are monolithic networks. All monolithic networks will eventually run into scaling issues due to long-term storage and bandwidth limits. It will really depend on how successful Ethereum's Layer 2 rollup solutions will be. > > **Future uncertainty about Layer 2 solutions** (major): > > Ethereum's long-term success is dependent on the success of its Layer 2 solutions. > > These Layer 2 solutions are still extremely early. Even after a year, L2 has a very fragmented adoption. The majority of centralized exchanges currently do not support Layer 2 rollup networks. A few have started to support Polygon, which is more of a Layer 2 side-chain that saves state every 256 blocks than a Layer 2 rollup. Very few CEXs allow for direct fiat on/off-ramping on L2 networks, which puts those networks out of reach of most users. > > Many of these Layer 2 networks (Arbitrum, Optimism, Loopring, ZKSync, etc), are not interoperable with each other. You can store your tokens on any specific L2 network, but they're stuck there. If you want to move your tokens back to Layer 1 or to another L2 network, you have to pay very expensive smart contract gas fees ($50-300). Eventually, there will be bridges between these networks, but we could be years away from widespread adoption. > > Fragmented liquidity is another huge issue. Each of these L2 networks has its own liquidity pool for each token it supports. You can store your token on the the L2 network, but you won't be able to trade or swap much if there are no liquidity pools for that token. Eventually, there will be Dynamic Automated Market Makers (dAMMs) that can share liquidity between networks, but they are complex and introduce their own weaknesses. > > Both Optimistic and ZK Rollups are handled off-chain and require a separate network nodes or smart contracts as infrastructure to validate transactions or generate ZK Proofs. They are very centralized in how they operate, so there's always the risk that their network operators could cheat their customers. By now, the community seems to agree that ZK rollups are the future rollup solution to decentralized L2 networks. There is only 1 notable instance of Plasma (Ethereum to Polygon network conversion), and no one uses it anymore since the Ethereum-Polygon bridge is easier to use. The biggest competitor to ZK rollups are Optimistic rollups, and those take too long to settle back to Layer 1 (1 week) and are still too expensive to use (20-50% of the cost of L1 Ethereum gas fees for transfers). > > **ZK Rollups** require special infrastructure to generate ZK Proofs. These are very computationally-expensive, potentially [thousands of times](https://vitalik.ca/general/2021/01/05/rollup.html) more expensive that just doing the computation directly. To reduce the cost, they are done completely-centralized by specialized servers. Thus the cost of a ZK Rollup is cheap at about [$0.10 to $.30](https://l2fees.info/). But even at $0.10 per transfer and $0.50 per swap, these are still at least 10x more expensive than costs on Algorand and Solana. Users will have to decide whether the extra cost and hassle of using an L2 platform is worth the extra security of settling on the more-decentralized and secure Ethereum L1 network. > > **Ethereum Proof-of-Stake merge is arriving later than competitors** (moderate): > > The ETH PoS Beacon chain has been released, it's a completely separate blockchain from ETH and won't merge with the main blockchain [until later this year](https://decrypt.co/78690/ethereum-2-staking-tops-21-billion-merge-horizon), giving its competitors plenty of time to provide FUD. We still don't know how successful the merge will be. Currently, stakes are locked, preventing investors from selling. We don't know what will happen to the price once staking unlocks. > > **MEV and Dark Forest attacks** (minor): > > [MEV](https://np.reddit.com/r/MPlankton/comments/rs4wp2/the_dark_forest_of_cryptocurrency/) is actually a pretty big issue for networks with high gas arbitrage and mempools like Ethereum, but most casual users will never notice hostile arbitrage. When you broadcast your transaction to the network, there are armies of bots and automated miners that analyze your transaction to see if they can perform arbitrage strategies on your transaction such as front-running, sandwiching, excluding transactions, stealing/replaying transactions, and other pure-profit plays. "Dark Forest" attacks have reveled that bots are constantly monitoring the network, and they can front-run you unless you have your own private army of miners. > > **Final Word** > > Overall, I still think the PROs outweigh the CONs for Ethereum in the long-run due to its first-mover advantage and the long-term sustainability of the Ethereum network. ***** Would you like to learn more? [Click here](/r/CointestOfficial/comments/ru2luf/top_10_ethereum_conarguments_january_2022/) to be taken to the original topic-thread for this argument or you can scan through the [Cointest Archive](/r/CointestOfficial/wiki/cointest_archive#wiki_Ethereum) to find arguments on this topic in other rounds. Pros and cons per topic will likely change for every new post. Since this is a con-argument, what could be a better time to promote the Skeptics Discussion thread? You can find the latest thread [here](/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/140vddq/daily_general_discussion_june_5_2023_gmt0/).

tatsopap

ALGO. I thought it was so promising, but now i think the best days are behind it.

CointestMod

#Ethereum Con-Arguments Below is an argument written by Maleficent_Plankton which won 1st place in the Ethereum Con-Arguments topic for a prior [Cointest](/r/CointestOfficial/wiki/cointest_policy) round. Submit an argument in the Cointest yourself and earn Moons if you win. Moon prizes are: 1st - 600, 2nd - 300, 3rd - 150, and Best Analysis - 500. > Ethereum has drastically changed in the past year now that it has rebranded itself as **Consensus/Settlement layer** for other Layer 2 Execution/Rollup networks. It is no longer trying to be a monolithic blockchain by itself. Because of this shift in design, many of its former CONs are no longer major issues. And many of the CONs that still exist often have a beneficial sides. > > I discuss the CONs of Ethereum and their impact on its users here: > > ## CONs > > **Gas Fees** (major): > > The biggest complaint for Ethereum is its network gas fees. Every transaction needs gas to pay for storage and processing power, and gas prices vary based on demand. Gas price is very volatile and often changes 2-5x in magnitude within the same day. ERC20 transfers are used for a large percentage of cryptocurrencies, and it's the reason much of DeFi is extremely expensive. If I wanted to send ERC20 tokens between exchanges, it's often cheaper to trade for XRP, ALGO, or some other microtransaction coin, transfer it using their other coin's native network, and then trade back into the original token. Basically: use a coin on a different network to avoid fees. > > Typical transaction fees for Ethereum were [between $2-10 over the past year](https://etherscan.io/chart/avg-txfee-usd), but they have shot up to $50+ several times in 2021. > > And that's just for basic transactions. Anyone who has tried to use more complex smart contracts like moving MATIC from Polygon mainnet back to ETH L1 mainnet during a time of high gas fees mid-year in 2021 saw $100-$200 gas fees. Transferring ERC-20 tokens (often $20-50) is also more gas expensive because it can't be done through native transfers like on the Cardano network. It's impractical to use swaps like Uniswap for small transactions due to these fees. > > In particular, One/Many-to-many batch transactions are extremely gas-expensive using Ethereum's account-based model compared to Bitcoin's and Cardano's UXTO-based model. [This batch transaction on Ethereum](https://etherscan.io/tx/0x0fe2542079644e107cbf13690eb9c2c65963ccb79089ff96bfaf8dced2331c92) cost over $5000 while [a similar eUXTO transaction on Cardano](https://adapools.org/transactions/e586c6340ee9e60a6c64f447feffe5f89bdabc7741666ecaa681081957938f56) only cost $0.50 in fees. > > On the other hand, these fees provide Ethereum long-term economic sustainability and resilience against DDoS and spam attacks. > > **Competition from other Smart Contract networks** (moderate): > > Ethereum has enjoyed its lead as the smart contract blockchain due to first-mover advantage. But there are now many efficient smart contract competitors like Algorand, Solana, and Cardano. Ethereum is now facing much competition. Who wants to pay $20 gas fees on Ethereum when you can get similar transactions for under $0.01 with Algo and Solana or $0.30 transactions with Cardano? > > Fortunately, the amount of competition is limited because Ethereum is positioning itself as a Settlement layer whereas these other networks are monolithic networks. All monolithic networks will eventually run into scaling issues due to long-term storage and bandwidth limits. It will really depend on how successful Ethereum's Layer 2 rollup solutions will be. > > **Future uncertainty about Layer 2 solutions** (major): > > Ethereum's long-term success is dependent on the success of its Layer 2 solutions. > > These Layer 2 solutions are still extremely early. Even after a year, L2 has a very fragmented adoption. The majority of centralized exchanges currently do not support Layer 2 rollup networks. A few have started to support Polygon, which is more of a Layer 2 side-chain that saves state every 256 blocks than a Layer 2 rollup. Very few CEXs allow for direct fiat on/off-ramping on L2 networks, which puts those networks out of reach of most users. > > Many of these Layer 2 networks (Arbitrum, Optimism, Loopring, ZKSync, etc), are not interoperable with each other. You can store your tokens on any specific L2 network, but they're stuck there. If you want to move your tokens back to Layer 1 or to another L2 network, you have to pay very expensive smart contract gas fees ($50-300). Eventually, there will be bridges between these networks, but we could be years away from widespread adoption. > > Fragmented liquidity is another huge issue. Each of these L2 networks has its own liquidity pool for each token it supports. You can store your token on the the L2 network, but you won't be able to trade or swap much if there are no liquidity pools for that token. Eventually, there will be Dynamic Automated Market Makers (dAMMs) that can share liquidity between networks, but they are complex and introduce their own weaknesses. > > Both Optimistic and ZK Rollups are handled off-chain and require a separate network nodes or smart contracts as infrastructure to validate transactions or generate ZK Proofs. They are very centralized in how they operate, so there's always the risk that their network operators could cheat their customers. By now, the community seems to agree that ZK rollups are the future rollup solution to decentralized L2 networks. There is only 1 notable instance of Plasma (Ethereum to Polygon network conversion), and no one uses it anymore since the Ethereum-Polygon bridge is easier to use. The biggest competitor to ZK rollups are Optimistic rollups, and those take too long to settle back to Layer 1 (1 week) and are still too expensive to use (20-50% of the cost of L1 Ethereum gas fees for transfers). > > **ZK Rollups** require special infrastructure to generate ZK Proofs. These are very computationally-expensive, potentially [thousands of times](https://vitalik.ca/general/2021/01/05/rollup.html) more expensive that just doing the computation directly. To reduce the cost, they are done completely-centralized by specialized servers. Thus the cost of a ZK Rollup is cheap at about [$0.10 to $.30](https://l2fees.info/). But even at $0.10 per transfer and $0.50 per swap, these are still at least 10x more expensive than costs on Algorand and Solana. Users will have to decide whether the extra cost and hassle of using an L2 platform is worth the extra security of settling on the more-decentralized and secure Ethereum L1 network. > > **Ethereum Proof-of-Stake merge is arriving later than competitors** (moderate): > > The ETH PoS Beacon chain has been released, it's a completely separate blockchain from ETH and won't merge with the main blockchain [until later this year](https://decrypt.co/78690/ethereum-2-staking-tops-21-billion-merge-horizon), giving its competitors plenty of time to provide FUD. We still don't know how successful the merge will be. Currently, stakes are locked, preventing investors from selling. We don't know what will happen to the price once staking unlocks. > > **MEV and Dark Forest attacks** (minor): > > [MEV](https://np.reddit.com/r/MPlankton/comments/rs4wp2/the_dark_forest_of_cryptocurrency/) is actually a pretty big issue for networks with high gas arbitrage and mempools like Ethereum, but most casual users will never notice hostile arbitrage. When you broadcast your transaction to the network, there are armies of bots and automated miners that analyze your transaction to see if they can perform arbitrage strategies on your transaction such as front-running, sandwiching, excluding transactions, stealing/replaying transactions, and other pure-profit plays. "Dark Forest" attacks have reveled that bots are constantly monitoring the network, and they can front-run you unless you have your own private army of miners. > > **Final Word** > > Overall, I still think the PROs outweigh the CONs for Ethereum in the long-run due to its first-mover advantage and the long-term sustainability of the Ethereum network. ***** Would you like to learn more? [Click here](/r/CointestOfficial/comments/ru2luf/top_10_ethereum_conarguments_january_2022/) to be taken to the original topic-thread for this argument or you can scan through the [Cointest Archive](/r/CointestOfficial/wiki/cointest_archive#wiki_Ethereum) to find arguments on this topic in other rounds. Pros and cons per topic will likely change for every new post. Since this is a con-argument, what could be a better time to promote the Skeptics Discussion thread? You can find the latest thread [here](/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/140vddq/daily_general_discussion_june_5_2023_gmt0/).

CointestMod

#Ethereum Con-Arguments Below is an argument written by Maleficent_Plankton which won 1st place in the Ethereum Con-Arguments topic for a prior [Cointest](/r/CointestOfficial/wiki/cointest_policy) round. Submit an argument in the Cointest yourself and earn Moons if you win. Moon prizes are: 1st - 600, 2nd - 300, 3rd - 150, and Best Analysis - 500. > Ethereum has drastically changed in the past year now that it has rebranded itself as **Consensus/Settlement layer** for other Layer 2 Execution/Rollup networks. It is no longer trying to be a monolithic blockchain by itself. Because of this shift in design, many of its former CONs are no longer major issues. And many of the CONs that still exist often have a beneficial sides. > > I discuss the CONs of Ethereum and their impact on its users here: > > ## CONs > > **Gas Fees** (major): > > The biggest complaint for Ethereum is its network gas fees. Every transaction needs gas to pay for storage and processing power, and gas prices vary based on demand. Gas price is very volatile and often changes 2-5x in magnitude within the same day. ERC20 transfers are used for a large percentage of cryptocurrencies, and it's the reason much of DeFi is extremely expensive. If I wanted to send ERC20 tokens between exchanges, it's often cheaper to trade for XRP, ALGO, or some other microtransaction coin, transfer it using their other coin's native network, and then trade back into the original token. Basically: use a coin on a different network to avoid fees. > > Typical transaction fees for Ethereum were [between $2-10 over the past year](https://etherscan.io/chart/avg-txfee-usd), but they have shot up to $50+ several times in 2021. > > And that's just for basic transactions. Anyone who has tried to use more complex smart contracts like moving MATIC from Polygon mainnet back to ETH L1 mainnet during a time of high gas fees mid-year in 2021 saw $100-$200 gas fees. Transferring ERC-20 tokens (often $20-50) is also more gas expensive because it can't be done through native transfers like on the Cardano network. It's impractical to use swaps like Uniswap for small transactions due to these fees. > > In particular, One/Many-to-many batch transactions are extremely gas-expensive using Ethereum's account-based model compared to Bitcoin's and Cardano's UXTO-based model. [This batch transaction on Ethereum](https://etherscan.io/tx/0x0fe2542079644e107cbf13690eb9c2c65963ccb79089ff96bfaf8dced2331c92) cost over $5000 while [a similar eUXTO transaction on Cardano](https://adapools.org/transactions/e586c6340ee9e60a6c64f447feffe5f89bdabc7741666ecaa681081957938f56) only cost $0.50 in fees. > > On the other hand, these fees provide Ethereum long-term economic sustainability and resilience against DDoS and spam attacks. > > **Competition from other Smart Contract networks** (moderate): > > Ethereum has enjoyed its lead as the smart contract blockchain due to first-mover advantage. But there are now many efficient smart contract competitors like Algorand, Solana, and Cardano. Ethereum is now facing much competition. Who wants to pay $20 gas fees on Ethereum when you can get similar transactions for under $0.01 with Algo and Solana or $0.30 transactions with Cardano? > > Fortunately, the amount of competition is limited because Ethereum is positioning itself as a Settlement layer whereas these other networks are monolithic networks. All monolithic networks will eventually run into scaling issues due to long-term storage and bandwidth limits. It will really depend on how successful Ethereum's Layer 2 rollup solutions will be. > > **Future uncertainty about Layer 2 solutions** (major): > > Ethereum's long-term success is dependent on the success of its Layer 2 solutions. > > These Layer 2 solutions are still extremely early. Even after a year, L2 has a very fragmented adoption. The majority of centralized exchanges currently do not support Layer 2 rollup networks. A few have started to support Polygon, which is more of a Layer 2 side-chain that saves state every 256 blocks than a Layer 2 rollup. Very few CEXs allow for direct fiat on/off-ramping on L2 networks, which puts those networks out of reach of most users. > > Many of these Layer 2 networks (Arbitrum, Optimism, Loopring, ZKSync, etc), are not interoperable with each other. You can store your tokens on any specific L2 network, but they're stuck there. If you want to move your tokens back to Layer 1 or to another L2 network, you have to pay very expensive smart contract gas fees ($50-300). Eventually, there will be bridges between these networks, but we could be years away from widespread adoption. > > Fragmented liquidity is another huge issue. Each of these L2 networks has its own liquidity pool for each token it supports. You can store your token on the the L2 network, but you won't be able to trade or swap much if there are no liquidity pools for that token. Eventually, there will be Dynamic Automated Market Makers (dAMMs) that can share liquidity between networks, but they are complex and introduce their own weaknesses. > > Both Optimistic and ZK Rollups are handled off-chain and require a separate network nodes or smart contracts as infrastructure to validate transactions or generate ZK Proofs. They are very centralized in how they operate, so there's always the risk that their network operators could cheat their customers. By now, the community seems to agree that ZK rollups are the future rollup solution to decentralized L2 networks. There is only 1 notable instance of Plasma (Ethereum to Polygon network conversion), and no one uses it anymore since the Ethereum-Polygon bridge is easier to use. The biggest competitor to ZK rollups are Optimistic rollups, and those take too long to settle back to Layer 1 (1 week) and are still too expensive to use (20-50% of the cost of L1 Ethereum gas fees for transfers). > > **ZK Rollups** require special infrastructure to generate ZK Proofs. These are very computationally-expensive, potentially [thousands of times](https://vitalik.ca/general/2021/01/05/rollup.html) more expensive that just doing the computation directly. To reduce the cost, they are done completely-centralized by specialized servers. Thus the cost of a ZK Rollup is cheap at about [$0.10 to $.30](https://l2fees.info/). But even at $0.10 per transfer and $0.50 per swap, these are still at least 10x more expensive than costs on Algorand and Solana. Users will have to decide whether the extra cost and hassle of using an L2 platform is worth the extra security of settling on the more-decentralized and secure Ethereum L1 network. > > **Ethereum Proof-of-Stake merge is arriving later than competitors** (moderate): > > The ETH PoS Beacon chain has been released, it's a completely separate blockchain from ETH and won't merge with the main blockchain [until later this year](https://decrypt.co/78690/ethereum-2-staking-tops-21-billion-merge-horizon), giving its competitors plenty of time to provide FUD. We still don't know how successful the merge will be. Currently, stakes are locked, preventing investors from selling. We don't know what will happen to the price once staking unlocks. > > **MEV and Dark Forest attacks** (minor): > > [MEV](https://np.reddit.com/r/MPlankton/comments/rs4wp2/the_dark_forest_of_cryptocurrency/) is actually a pretty big issue for networks with high gas arbitrage and mempools like Ethereum, but most casual users will never notice hostile arbitrage. When you broadcast your transaction to the network, there are armies of bots and automated miners that analyze your transaction to see if they can perform arbitrage strategies on your transaction such as front-running, sandwiching, excluding transactions, stealing/replaying transactions, and other pure-profit plays. "Dark Forest" attacks have reveled that bots are constantly monitoring the network, and they can front-run you unless you have your own private army of miners. > > **Final Word** > > Overall, I still think the PROs outweigh the CONs for Ethereum in the long-run due to its first-mover advantage and the long-term sustainability of the Ethereum network. ***** Would you like to learn more? [Click here](/r/CointestOfficial/comments/ru2luf/top_10_ethereum_conarguments_january_2022/) to be taken to the original topic-thread for this argument or you can scan through the [Cointest Archive](/r/CointestOfficial/wiki/cointest_archive#wiki_Ethereum) to find arguments on this topic in other rounds. Pros and cons per topic will likely change for every new post. Since this is a con-argument, what could be a better time to promote the Skeptics Discussion thread? You can find the latest thread [here](/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/140vddq/daily_general_discussion_june_5_2023_gmt0/).

hedgehogssss

ALGO 😭😭😭

SimbaTheWeasel

I love ALGO, but advise all newcomers to be very cautious. Definitely DYOR so that you’re atleast aware of why ALGO is where it is now. Holders will say it’s on a massive discount right now without explaining why

SimbaTheWeasel

Gotta be tons of ALGO bag holders here. I bet tons of them got in at peak like me

SimbaTheWeasel

ALGO being down was already a gut punch. The MyAlgo hack felt like losing a limb.

SimbaTheWeasel

ALGO gives me pain every time I think about it

SimbaTheWeasel

*Cries in ALGO Agony*

pbjclimbing

So are you calling Algorand a meme coin or a pump and dump? (I can’t believe the Algorand Foundation actually paid him to shill ALGO)

Appropriate_Music162

I feel like ALGO is in a pretty dark corner right now.

masedogg98

Be happy you didn’t get talked into XYO or ALGO haha my aunt and uncle talked me into them back in 2021 I’ve been bag holding trying to work my averages into profit range or just comfortable loss range lol but that’s a chapter yet to be written yet xD

SimbaTheWeasel

*Whimpers in ALGO*

clorusaki

ALGO

SimbaTheWeasel

*Cries in ALGO*

Grunblau

Fiat with extra interest. Lot’s of upside potential. This is what ALGO was supposed to be for me…

Commercial-Ad-2448

Because ALGO magically added millions to their circulating supply in a day without mentioning it at all….

SimbaTheWeasel

*Cries in ALGO Agony*

Odd-Radio-8500

I assume there are a lot of ALGO holders in this sub.

Rusty_Charm

The problem isn’t the alts. The problem is the strategy. This sub would downvote anyone suggesting to sell in 2021, and you’d get a slew of arrogant and condescending comments like “nah, just DCA and Hodl”. The suggestion that the darlings of this sub - VET, ONE, ADA, ALGO - could get absolutely destroyed in a bear market was met with downvotes and “nobody knows shit about fuck” as if markets all of a sudden stopped being cyclical and crypto would just keep going up after having gone completely parabolic in 2020/2021. You don’t DCA and Hodl during a bull. You sell the shit you bought in the bear when euphoria is at ATHs and if you buy something, do so with the intention of selling it before the market trend changes again.

kirtash93

ALGO vibes

dollhousemassacre

I feel like I can replace Solana with ALGO and it would apply to me.

kirtash93

So are you telling me there is still a chance that ALGO reaches a new ATH?

KookyBaker5731

Buying ALGO now feels eerily similar to buying ADA at 0.04-0.10 in 2020.

kirtash93

I just buy whatever r/cc shills. This is why I HODL, ALGO, LRC, IMX, CKB, VET, CRO, SOL, XTZ and ONE. Advice: Don't be me.

Intelligent_Page2732

The biggest crime of 2023 so far, BitBoy and ALGO, shameless...

kirtash93

Time to ignore my beloved ALGO then. \*cry sounds\*

partymsl

All except ALGO...

Nyarlatotep781

ALGO hopped to 3. What's happened?

ahalhavaes

Does it mean you can't use it to store any other token aside ALGO?

bolebuns

Not a big deal, I guess, but I love how fast it is. Seems to be secure. Now days if I have to send BTC I just get frustrated. I think it has a bad rap due to the SEC filing (not against ALGO) and the ALGO wallet hack (not related to ALGO). The whole market is getting crushed, so. And of course full disclosure, I am long ALGO, so there is that. If it doesn't do anything in the next 2 years I am out. So let's go. You asked.

SimbaTheWeasel

*Cries in ALGO*

Blooberino

ALGO is really making me reconsider whether continuing to hold the heavy bag I have is worth it.

manus101010

Removed ALGO from DCA list

pbjclimbing

I thought that ALGO retirement plan was the privilege of working longer after investing in ALGO.

RedPhaedrus5

ALGO through their Governance.

KilzzoneXD

I am still bullish on ALGO longterm but my fuck do they do some dumb shit over there

SimbaTheWeasel

ALGO has been down bad for a long long time. It’s a real shame too.

SimbaTheWeasel

*Whimpers in ALGO*

Advanced-Ingenuity46

And here I thought ALGO couldn't possibly lose me any more money. Alas, I was wrong.

UDP7

Bitboy was the reason why I invested ALGO in 2021 when I first started...

kirtash93

ALGO trying to play ETH Vitalik rap move.

kirtash93

You are not alone. I am an ALGO governor that is also losing all remaining hope in the project and this BitBoy stuff was the last nail.

excubitor15379

Omg rly ALGO and shit boy? O trololol that's funny af, they got nice ambassador muwhahah...

BrisingrReborn

ALGO team: "Nike"

Intelligent_Page2732

The beginning of the end of ALGO.

HiCarumba

ALGO, for my sins

Vishnia88

ALGO downfall was so unreal no one guessed that after their partnership with FIFA

kirtash93

Well, it went well for ETH with Ethereum rap. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7MeJionPMA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7MeJionPMA) Jokes aside, I am an ALGO holder and Governor and I don't have so much faith. Everything BitBoy touches ends in a rug pull or dead.

Blooberino

ALGO team: "fuck"

RossoneriEA

ALGO first backed by Gensler and now working with BitBoy to create hype? It’s not looking good.

RossoneriEA

ALGO first backed by Gensler and now working with BitBoy to create hype? It’s not looking good.

002_timmy

Must be a bag the size of my ALGO to hold a car ;-)

kirtash93

Now that they are working with BitBoy, a proud ALGO governor has to agree with that. I am not a Governor of a shitcoin. See you in the bottom of the ocean 

badboybilly42582

I never understood the hype around this coin. Not an ALGO hater. If I was a bag holder, this would annoy me.

HelmsDeap

Converting my large amount of ALGO to BTC

CymandeTV

Don't need to click three coins, two known (ALGO and Near) and one complete shitcoin... Caged Beast. Shilled or paid article.

Embarrassed_Copy_598

ALGO keeps on disappointing us day after day ffs.

Lillica_Golden_SHIB

Joining you. I stopped buying ALGO long ago and now just keep my bag untouched, hoping/dreaming it will do well some day. This Bitboy move makes me a bit less hopeful...

Lillica_Golden_SHIB

Thought the same lol but this Bitboy shit makes me feel terribly bad about my ALGO bag

34Sis

had high hopes for ALGO, but it DOWN GO

Mrs-Lemon

Actually first was Silvio taking 20% of the supply of Algo himself and then creating a for profit private corporation to control that ALGO.

pizza-chit

ALGO working with Bitboy? They couldn't get the Bitconnect guy?

crossthrows

So that's why we hate ALGO now...

CointestMod

#Algorand Con-Arguments Below is a Algorand con-argument written by mic_droo. > Disclaimer: I do hold some ALGO and think it’s a good coin. At the same time, I think it is a bit overhyped, especially in this community, and people pretend there is absolutely nothing negative about it while it of course has negative sides to it as well, like any coin. Here are a few of them: > > * ALGO somewhat has a leadership cult. Its founder, Silvio Micali – and don’t get me wrong, that guy seems to be very, very good at what he is doing – is hailed as a god in the community. While he fortunately is not as present and outspoken about everything as other leaders like Vitalik Buterin, Gavin Wood or especially Charles Hoskinson, the ALGO community worships him just as much and likes to say stuff like “I am sure we will succeed because we have Silvio”. Similar to other top-heavy coins this is somewhat problematic, as ALGO would probably lose a lot of support if he decides to retire or if something happens to him > > * There are [very few DApps]( https://developer.algorand.org/ecosystem-projects/?tags=dapps) on Algorand. This is a bit weird, as younger and much smaller chains have a lot more going on in this area. I also rarely hear anyone talk about any of them (except back when the biggest one, Tinyman, was hacked) > > * Algorand uses the [Algorand virtual machine (AVM)](https://developer.algorand.org/docs/get-details/dapps/avm/) to run nodes on the blockchain. This makes it much harder to develop for it, and harder for DApps from other chains to be adapted to ALGO – which might explain why there isn’t a lot going on there. > > * ALGO often underdelivers on promises. For example, in late 2020 Micali promised that TPS will soon grow from [1,000 to 46,000](https://www.algorand.com/resources/algorand-announcements/algorand-2021-performance). From what I can tell from different sources (e.g. [here](https://www.gemini.com/cryptopedia/what-is-algorand-cryptocurrency-blockchain)) it’s still around 1,000, almost 1 1/2 years later. > > * the tokenomics are famously bad, with a ton of coins [going to the devs and early backers](https://algorand.foundation/governance/algo-dynamics) (they used to have another problem, accelerated vesting, that has however been [mitigated]( https://algorand.foundation/news/accelerated-vesting-complete) a few months ago) ***** Would you like to learn more? Check out the [Cointest archive](/r/CointestOfficial/wiki/cointest_archive#wiki_Algorand) to find submissions for other topics.

CointestMod

#Algorand Pro-Arguments Below is a Algorand pro-argument written by Zarkorix. > Disclaimer: ALGO is ~15% of my portfolio. > > ## Solving the Blockchain Trilemma > > Algorand is a solution to the "blockchain trilemma" - the ability of a network to be simultaneously scalable, secure and decentralised. ALGO's TPS is 1k/s, with a 4s finality, 0.001 ALGO transaction fee and it offers L1 smart contracts - however the network will be upgraded in Q3-Q4 2021 to 45k/s TPS and 2.5s finality, ranking it toward the top for speed and scalability [(Source)](https://www.algorand.com/120720-Algorand%202021%20Performance.pdf) > > Decentralisation is achieved by the pure PoS (PPoS) consensus mechanism, which employs **algo**rithmic **rand**omness. Unlike delegated PoS (e.g. XTZ, ADA), PPoS does not employ pooled validators, thus minimizing the drive toward centralisation over time that dPOS suffers from. ALGO node running is permissionless - anybody with >1 ALGO can run a node and theoretically participate in consensus. Moreover, the hardware requirements are extremely low - an ALGO node can be run on a low energy, $50 Raspberry Pi. > > A key feature of PPoS is the use of a randomised, weighted lottery that selects validators - known as VRF. This prevents any malicious actor(s) from attacking the network since the identities of the currently selected validators (who must be corrupted in order to carry out an attack) are not known until the block is already finalised. At 1-4k validators, PPoS is paradoxically superior to ETH 2.0's 150,000 nodes - because ETH's beacon chains are long-lived. By contrast, ALGO's random selections vary on both a *round* and *subround* basis - that is, block proposers, voters, vote certifiers all vary, across all steps of certifying a block. Unlike ETH 2.0, which makes a single node the 'king-of-the-hill' for a given round (and thus employs slashing to discourage this node from misbehaving), if a node misbehaves in ALGO, it is simply voted against by all other certifiers - no slashing required. > > Governance (launching 1/10/21) will further decentralise the network by placing decisions concerning the network, tokenomics and which projects receive developer grants (see below) into the hands of ALGO holders. > > **Main Conclusion:** ALGO is fast, scalable, secure while remaining decentralised. > > ## Carbon Negative > > Algorand's pure proof-of-stake (PPoS) consensus mechanism is extremely lightweight, consuming \~0.000008 kWh/tx (vs. 0.5479 kWh/tx in ADA - that's \~70,000x less energy, and 116250000x less energy than BTC) - with 4,000 active validators. Minting an NFT requires only 0.0000004 kg of CO2 [(Source).](https://www.algorand.com/resources/blog/sustainable-blockchain-calculating-the-carbon-footprint) This energy usage is 100%+ offset via carbon credits - locked up by an on-chain sustainability oracle, via smart contract, that analyses the energy used by each node. A partnership with ClimateTrade (amongst others) channels this funding into reforestation, peat-management and wind-energy projects at a global level [(Source)](https://www.algorand.com/resources/algorand-announcements/carbon_negative_announcement). > > **Main Conclusion:** ALGO is eco-friendly, and the world's first carbon *negative* blockchain network. > > ## Staking Rewards > > ALGO currently offers a seamless staking experience, with an APY of \~5.75% - you simply hold ALGO in a custodial wallet to participate (i.e. you do not need to select a validator and there is no lock-up period). In other words, your ALGO remains liquid at all times. This, however, will be gradually phased out and replaced by Governance, which will increase APY to 7%-30% (depending on the number of participants) but which will require you to vote in every proposal. > > ## Developer Friendly & Ecosystem > > Algorand is extremely accessible to developers [(Source 1)](https://developer.algorand.org/tutorials/) [(Source 2)](https://developer.algorand.org/docs/reference/sdks/): it supports development in Python, C++, GO, Java, Javascript and RUST - removing the need for developers to retrain or learn obscure or new languages (e.g. Haskell). ALGO's smart contract language, TEAL, is incredibly intuitive and can be accessed via Python (PyTEAL). As shown in Source 1, Algorand offers comprehensive and detailed documentation and tutorials (for free) to all prospective developers. > > More importantly, \~$200-250m is available to support developers and 50+ grants have already been issued [(Source)](https://algorand.foundation/developers/developer-incentive-awards-program). In total, \~600-650 companies are currently developing on ALGO and intend to deploy DApps/ALGO-based services [(Source)](https://www.algorand.com/ecosystem/). > > **Main Conclusion:** ALGO has the ability to instantly attract developers, and is poised for an explosion in its ecosystem. > > ## Academic Rigor > > Algorand was founded by the Turing-award-winning, MIT professor Silvio Micali - and is backed by an excellent team with solid peer-reviewed academic prowess and publication record [(Source 1)](https://www.algorand.com/technology/research-innovation/research-papers) [(Source 2)](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=silvio+micali&btnG=). Silvio Micali conceived of and pioneered zero-knowledge proofs (among many other protocols) - a key, integral part of ETH 2.0 and the future of cryptography/cryptocurrencies. Such a respectable and trustworthy team boosts ALGO's chances of mass adoption, especially in the financial/institutional sectors. > > **Main Conclusion:** ALGO's ability to form partnerships is bolstered by the prestige of its team. > > ## Real World Use > > A key feature of Algorand is that it is *forkless* \- it is mathematically impossible for ALGO to fork [(Source)](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S030439751930091X). This is extremely important for real-world usage + transactions. Businesses accepting ALGO (unlike 99% of other cryptos) will not only experience rapid finality but can trust that the transaction is not on a forked, branch of the blockchain that can be lost. This also applies to NFTs. Thus far, ALGO has seen major adoption, recently including: > > * 70M South Americans (potentially 200M soon) using ALGO to issue + store COVID-19 passports [(Source)](https://www.algorand.com/resources/ecosystem-announcements/vitalpass-vaccine-tracing-latam/) > * BNext adopting ALGO for its $100b/year Spain<->Latin American remittance service [(Source)](https://www.algorand.com/resources/ecosystem-announcements/bnext-announces-next-generation-remittance-service/) > * MAPay adopting ALGO to power $800m/year in healthcare payments for Bermuda [(Source)](https://www.algorand.com/resources/ecosystem-announcements/mapay-to-implement-blockchain-based-solutions-on-algorand) > * SIAE, one of the largest and oldest digital rights managements companies in the world, launched 4.5m NFTs onto ALGO - representing the work of 10,000 artists and which will involve $100m/year in royalties [(Source)](https://www.algorand.com/ecosystem/use-cases/siae). > * ALGO was recently featured in a World Economic Forum (WEF) report on cryptocurrency - listed as a recommended "VIP" blockchain that solves issues with BTC/ETH and proof-of-stake [(Source)](http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Getting_Started_Cryptocurrency_2021.pdf). This document will be seen by institutions, banks and economists worldwide. > > The list goes on and on [Here.](https://www.algorand.com/ecosystem/use-cases) > > **Main Conclusion:** ALGO is already being deployed for large-scale and institutional solutions - despite only launching \~2y ago. ***** Would you like to learn more? Check out the [Cointest archive](/r/CointestOfficial/wiki/cointest_archive#wiki_Algorand) to find submissions for other topics.

kirtash93

Day by day it is becoming more and more hard to be a proud ALGO governor. I think I am going down with this ship.

OsChMoScH

To me ALGO sounds like 'I'll go'

OsChMoScH

ALGO seems more and more a bad idea. First this sub loves ALGO which is a huge red flag, second now something about BitBoy. No thanks.

Wonzky

And here I thought ALGO still had a chance :(

yansen_osman

With this crying i can say you all are having ALGO in your portfolio

deftaj

How has someone at ALGO not turned around and said maybe this isn’t a good idea?

ProjectZeus

ALGO's fall from grace has been painful to watch. Such a great project a couple of years ago before Silvio stepped back from it

coinfeeds-bot

tldr; Cardano (ADA) is leading an eco-friendly revolution in the crypto sphere with its innovative staking mechanism and efficient Proof-of-Stake consensus mechanism, significantly lowering energy consumption compared to traditional Layer-1 blockchains. Meanwhile, Algorand (ALGO) has outperformed other top Layer1 blockchains with its impressive transaction speed, thanks to its recent 3.16.0-beta update. Sparklo (SPRK), a unique platform for precious metal investments, has also piqued significant trader interest with its fresh, inventive platform that facilitates purchasing fractions of an NFT, each backed by a physical asset. *This summary is auto generated by a bot and not meant to replace reading the original article. As always, DYOR.*

CointestMod

#Ethereum Con-Arguments Below is an argument written by Maleficent_Plankton which won 1st place in the Ethereum Con-Arguments topic for a prior [Cointest](/r/CointestOfficial/wiki/cointest_policy) round. Submit an argument in the Cointest yourself and earn Moons if you win. Moon prizes are: 1st - 600, 2nd - 300, 3rd - 150, and Best Analysis - 500. > Ethereum has drastically changed in the past year now that it has rebranded itself as **Consensus/Settlement layer** for other Layer 2 Execution/Rollup networks. It is no longer trying to be a monolithic blockchain by itself. Because of this shift in design, many of its former CONs are no longer major issues. And many of the CONs that still exist often have a beneficial sides. > > I discuss the CONs of Ethereum and their impact on its users here: > > ## CONs > > **Gas Fees** (major): > > The biggest complaint for Ethereum is its network gas fees. Every transaction needs gas to pay for storage and processing power, and gas prices vary based on demand. Gas price is very volatile and often changes 2-5x in magnitude within the same day. ERC20 transfers are used for a large percentage of cryptocurrencies, and it's the reason much of DeFi is extremely expensive. If I wanted to send ERC20 tokens between exchanges, it's often cheaper to trade for XRP, ALGO, or some other microtransaction coin, transfer it using their other coin's native network, and then trade back into the original token. Basically: use a coin on a different network to avoid fees. > > Typical transaction fees for Ethereum were [between $2-10 over the past year](https://etherscan.io/chart/avg-txfee-usd), but they have shot up to $50+ several times in 2021. > > And that's just for basic transactions. Anyone who has tried to use more complex smart contracts like moving MATIC from Polygon mainnet back to ETH L1 mainnet during a time of high gas fees mid-year in 2021 saw $100-$200 gas fees. Transferring ERC-20 tokens (often $20-50) is also more gas expensive because it can't be done through native transfers like on the Cardano network. It's impractical to use swaps like Uniswap for small transactions due to these fees. > > In particular, One/Many-to-many batch transactions are extremely gas-expensive using Ethereum's account-based model compared to Bitcoin's and Cardano's UXTO-based model. [This batch transaction on Ethereum](https://etherscan.io/tx/0x0fe2542079644e107cbf13690eb9c2c65963ccb79089ff96bfaf8dced2331c92) cost over $5000 while [a similar eUXTO transaction on Cardano](https://adapools.org/transactions/e586c6340ee9e60a6c64f447feffe5f89bdabc7741666ecaa681081957938f56) only cost $0.50 in fees. > > On the other hand, these fees provide Ethereum long-term economic sustainability and resilience against DDoS and spam attacks. > > **Competition from other Smart Contract networks** (moderate): > > Ethereum has enjoyed its lead as the smart contract blockchain due to first-mover advantage. But there are now many efficient smart contract competitors like Algorand, Solana, and Cardano. Ethereum is now facing much competition. Who wants to pay $20 gas fees on Ethereum when you can get similar transactions for under $0.01 with Algo and Solana or $0.30 transactions with Cardano? > > Fortunately, the amount of competition is limited because Ethereum is positioning itself as a Settlement layer whereas these other networks are monolithic networks. All monolithic networks will eventually run into scaling issues due to long-term storage and bandwidth limits. It will really depend on how successful Ethereum's Layer 2 rollup solutions will be. > > **Future uncertainty about Layer 2 solutions** (major): > > Ethereum's long-term success is dependent on the success of its Layer 2 solutions. > > These Layer 2 solutions are still extremely early. Even after a year, L2 has a very fragmented adoption. The majority of centralized exchanges currently do not support Layer 2 rollup networks. A few have started to support Polygon, which is more of a Layer 2 side-chain that saves state every 256 blocks than a Layer 2 rollup. Very few CEXs allow for direct fiat on/off-ramping on L2 networks, which puts those networks out of reach of most users. > > Many of these Layer 2 networks (Arbitrum, Optimism, Loopring, ZKSync, etc), are not interoperable with each other. You can store your tokens on any specific L2 network, but they're stuck there. If you want to move your tokens back to Layer 1 or to another L2 network, you have to pay very expensive smart contract gas fees ($50-300). Eventually, there will be bridges between these networks, but we could be years away from widespread adoption. > > Fragmented liquidity is another huge issue. Each of these L2 networks has its own liquidity pool for each token it supports. You can store your token on the the L2 network, but you won't be able to trade or swap much if there are no liquidity pools for that token. Eventually, there will be Dynamic Automated Market Makers (dAMMs) that can share liquidity between networks, but they are complex and introduce their own weaknesses. > > Both Optimistic and ZK Rollups are handled off-chain and require a separate network nodes or smart contracts as infrastructure to validate transactions or generate ZK Proofs. They are very centralized in how they operate, so there's always the risk that their network operators could cheat their customers. By now, the community seems to agree that ZK rollups are the future rollup solution to decentralized L2 networks. There is only 1 notable instance of Plasma (Ethereum to Polygon network conversion), and no one uses it anymore since the Ethereum-Polygon bridge is easier to use. The biggest competitor to ZK rollups are Optimistic rollups, and those take too long to settle back to Layer 1 (1 week) and are still too expensive to use (20-50% of the cost of L1 Ethereum gas fees for transfers). > > **ZK Rollups** require special infrastructure to generate ZK Proofs. These are very computationally-expensive, potentially [thousands of times](https://vitalik.ca/general/2021/01/05/rollup.html) more expensive that just doing the computation directly. To reduce the cost, they are done completely-centralized by specialized servers. Thus the cost of a ZK Rollup is cheap at about [$0.10 to $.30](https://l2fees.info/). But even at $0.10 per transfer and $0.50 per swap, these are still at least 10x more expensive than costs on Algorand and Solana. Users will have to decide whether the extra cost and hassle of using an L2 platform is worth the extra security of settling on the more-decentralized and secure Ethereum L1 network. > > **Ethereum Proof-of-Stake merge is arriving later than competitors** (moderate): > > The ETH PoS Beacon chain has been released, it's a completely separate blockchain from ETH and won't merge with the main blockchain [until later this year](https://decrypt.co/78690/ethereum-2-staking-tops-21-billion-merge-horizon), giving its competitors plenty of time to provide FUD. We still don't know how successful the merge will be. Currently, stakes are locked, preventing investors from selling. We don't know what will happen to the price once staking unlocks. > > **MEV and Dark Forest attacks** (minor): > > [MEV](https://np.reddit.com/r/MPlankton/comments/rs4wp2/the_dark_forest_of_cryptocurrency/) is actually a pretty big issue for networks with high gas arbitrage and mempools like Ethereum, but most casual users will never notice hostile arbitrage. When you broadcast your transaction to the network, there are armies of bots and automated miners that analyze your transaction to see if they can perform arbitrage strategies on your transaction such as front-running, sandwiching, excluding transactions, stealing/replaying transactions, and other pure-profit plays. "Dark Forest" attacks have reveled that bots are constantly monitoring the network, and they can front-run you unless you have your own private army of miners. > > **Final Word** > > Overall, I still think the PROs outweigh the CONs for Ethereum in the long-run due to its first-mover advantage and the long-term sustainability of the Ethereum network. ***** Would you like to learn more? [Click here](/r/CointestOfficial/comments/ru2luf/top_10_ethereum_conarguments_january_2022/) to be taken to the original topic-thread for this argument or you can scan through the [Cointest Archive](/r/CointestOfficial/wiki/cointest_archive#wiki_Ethereum) to find arguments on this topic in other rounds. Pros and cons per topic will likely change for every new post. Since this is a con-argument, what could be a better time to promote the Skeptics Discussion thread? You can find the latest thread [here](/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/13yu6g4/daily_general_discussion_june_3_2023_gmt0/).

CointestMod

#Ethereum Con-Arguments Below is an argument written by Maleficent_Plankton which won 1st place in the Ethereum Con-Arguments topic for a prior [Cointest](/r/CointestOfficial/wiki/cointest_policy) round. Submit an argument in the Cointest yourself and earn Moons if you win. Moon prizes are: 1st - 600, 2nd - 300, 3rd - 150, and Best Analysis - 500. > Ethereum has drastically changed in the past year now that it has rebranded itself as **Consensus/Settlement layer** for other Layer 2 Execution/Rollup networks. It is no longer trying to be a monolithic blockchain by itself. Because of this shift in design, many of its former CONs are no longer major issues. And many of the CONs that still exist often have a beneficial sides. > > I discuss the CONs of Ethereum and their impact on its users here: > > ## CONs > > **Gas Fees** (major): > > The biggest complaint for Ethereum is its network gas fees. Every transaction needs gas to pay for storage and processing power, and gas prices vary based on demand. Gas price is very volatile and often changes 2-5x in magnitude within the same day. ERC20 transfers are used for a large percentage of cryptocurrencies, and it's the reason much of DeFi is extremely expensive. If I wanted to send ERC20 tokens between exchanges, it's often cheaper to trade for XRP, ALGO, or some other microtransaction coin, transfer it using their other coin's native network, and then trade back into the original token. Basically: use a coin on a different network to avoid fees. > > Typical transaction fees for Ethereum were [between $2-10 over the past year](https://etherscan.io/chart/avg-txfee-usd), but they have shot up to $50+ several times in 2021. > > And that's just for basic transactions. Anyone who has tried to use more complex smart contracts like moving MATIC from Polygon mainnet back to ETH L1 mainnet during a time of high gas fees mid-year in 2021 saw $100-$200 gas fees. Transferring ERC-20 tokens (often $20-50) is also more gas expensive because it can't be done through native transfers like on the Cardano network. It's impractical to use swaps like Uniswap for small transactions due to these fees. > > In particular, One/Many-to-many batch transactions are extremely gas-expensive using Ethereum's account-based model compared to Bitcoin's and Cardano's UXTO-based model. [This batch transaction on Ethereum](https://etherscan.io/tx/0x0fe2542079644e107cbf13690eb9c2c65963ccb79089ff96bfaf8dced2331c92) cost over $5000 while [a similar eUXTO transaction on Cardano](https://adapools.org/transactions/e586c6340ee9e60a6c64f447feffe5f89bdabc7741666ecaa681081957938f56) only cost $0.50 in fees. > > On the other hand, these fees provide Ethereum long-term economic sustainability and resilience against DDoS and spam attacks. > > **Competition from other Smart Contract networks** (moderate): > > Ethereum has enjoyed its lead as the smart contract blockchain due to first-mover advantage. But there are now many efficient smart contract competitors like Algorand, Solana, and Cardano. Ethereum is now facing much competition. Who wants to pay $20 gas fees on Ethereum when you can get similar transactions for under $0.01 with Algo and Solana or $0.30 transactions with Cardano? > > Fortunately, the amount of competition is limited because Ethereum is positioning itself as a Settlement layer whereas these other networks are monolithic networks. All monolithic networks will eventually run into scaling issues due to long-term storage and bandwidth limits. It will really depend on how successful Ethereum's Layer 2 rollup solutions will be. > > **Future uncertainty about Layer 2 solutions** (major): > > Ethereum's long-term success is dependent on the success of its Layer 2 solutions. > > These Layer 2 solutions are still extremely early. Even after a year, L2 has a very fragmented adoption. The majority of centralized exchanges currently do not support Layer 2 rollup networks. A few have started to support Polygon, which is more of a Layer 2 side-chain that saves state every 256 blocks than a Layer 2 rollup. Very few CEXs allow for direct fiat on/off-ramping on L2 networks, which puts those networks out of reach of most users. > > Many of these Layer 2 networks (Arbitrum, Optimism, Loopring, ZKSync, etc), are not interoperable with each other. You can store your tokens on any specific L2 network, but they're stuck there. If you want to move your tokens back to Layer 1 or to another L2 network, you have to pay very expensive smart contract gas fees ($50-300). Eventually, there will be bridges between these networks, but we could be years away from widespread adoption. > > Fragmented liquidity is another huge issue. Each of these L2 networks has its own liquidity pool for each token it supports. You can store your token on the the L2 network, but you won't be able to trade or swap much if there are no liquidity pools for that token. Eventually, there will be Dynamic Automated Market Makers (dAMMs) that can share liquidity between networks, but they are complex and introduce their own weaknesses. > > Both Optimistic and ZK Rollups are handled off-chain and require a separate network nodes or smart contracts as infrastructure to validate transactions or generate ZK Proofs. They are very centralized in how they operate, so there's always the risk that their network operators could cheat their customers. By now, the community seems to agree that ZK rollups are the future rollup solution to decentralized L2 networks. There is only 1 notable instance of Plasma (Ethereum to Polygon network conversion), and no one uses it anymore since the Ethereum-Polygon bridge is easier to use. The biggest competitor to ZK rollups are Optimistic rollups, and those take too long to settle back to Layer 1 (1 week) and are still too expensive to use (20-50% of the cost of L1 Ethereum gas fees for transfers). > > **ZK Rollups** require special infrastructure to generate ZK Proofs. These are very computationally-expensive, potentially [thousands of times](https://vitalik.ca/general/2021/01/05/rollup.html) more expensive that just doing the computation directly. To reduce the cost, they are done completely-centralized by specialized servers. Thus the cost of a ZK Rollup is cheap at about [$0.10 to $.30](https://l2fees.info/). But even at $0.10 per transfer and $0.50 per swap, these are still at least 10x more expensive than costs on Algorand and Solana. Users will have to decide whether the extra cost and hassle of using an L2 platform is worth the extra security of settling on the more-decentralized and secure Ethereum L1 network. > > **Ethereum Proof-of-Stake merge is arriving later than competitors** (moderate): > > The ETH PoS Beacon chain has been released, it's a completely separate blockchain from ETH and won't merge with the main blockchain [until later this year](https://decrypt.co/78690/ethereum-2-staking-tops-21-billion-merge-horizon), giving its competitors plenty of time to provide FUD. We still don't know how successful the merge will be. Currently, stakes are locked, preventing investors from selling. We don't know what will happen to the price once staking unlocks. > > **MEV and Dark Forest attacks** (minor): > > [MEV](https://np.reddit.com/r/MPlankton/comments/rs4wp2/the_dark_forest_of_cryptocurrency/) is actually a pretty big issue for networks with high gas arbitrage and mempools like Ethereum, but most casual users will never notice host