In the race for mass adoption and the search for the next Bitcoin, the crypto community can sometimes overlook the basic philosophies behind the origins of crypto.
Anthony Lusardi, US Director of the Ethereum Classic Cooperative, a group dedicated to sustaining financial support for the development of the Etherereum Classic (ETC) protocol, recently discussed why these topics are important and why he’s sticking with ETC, a top 20 crypto asset that recently suffered a 51% attack.
At the core of Lusardi’s conviction is decentralization and immutability. Lusardi believes that “proof of work is the only way you get a decentralized cryptocurrency” and that truly decentralized cryptocurrencies are “few and far between.”
In an interview with cryptocurrency broker-dealer SFOX, Lusardi says,
“You will find that the overwhelming majority of (cryptocurrencies) are centralized.”
And persistent centralization is what undermines the crypto ethos.
Lusardi, who says cryptocurrencies should give people complete ownership of their own money, says ownership rights shouldn’t be in jeopardy. No matter what a person has or hasn’t done, it’s their right to own their private keys, and no one should be able to revoke them.
According to Lusardi, the Ethereum hard fork violated this right.
“(It) was like letting your bank vote on your balance. Imagine the members of your bank deciding you’d done something wrong, and voting to take your funds away – that’s the Ethereum hard fork.”
“When you allow other people to vote on it, that’s the thing that we take issue with. We think that immutability needs to be preserved there.”
Lusardi admits there are some advantages to centralization, such as having a “one true kind of direction” that can help guide towards a “proper path forward.” He says, however, that even if a central authority has good intentions, it may not last.
“Singapore has a benevolent dictator, and benevolent dictators sometimes work out really, really well? – ?you know, for short periods of time. And then the benevolent dictator gets corrupted, or the benevolent dictator’s son or grandson gets corrupted. All of the sudden, things change, and having a dictator isn’t so great anymore.”
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After the centralized financial system bailed out the banks in 2008, instead of letting them fail, cryptocurrencies arose, Lusardi points out, to counteract unfair advantages.
“That was probably the most original purpose of cryptocurrency ?– ?that everybody gets an even and fair playing field.”
“Anybody who wants to participate in ETC gets the same exact playing field as everybody else.”
Lusardi isn’t so optimistic about many other cryptocurrencies, however.
“I think there’s quite a great deal of cryptocurrencies that will die off, even if they’re good ideas, as a consequence of the market kind of condensing on things.”
As for the recent ETC 51% attack, which lasted for three days with over $1 million in estimated losses, Lusardi sees strength in decentralization.
“So, yes, ETC, for example, got 51% attacked, but centralized cryptocurrencies can get 1% attacked. They could get attacked by an even smaller group of people with even less money. So, decentralized is always better.”
You can check out the full interview here.
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