Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin says that Cardano (ADA), the fifth-largest cryptocurrency, is introducing fresh ideas to the crypto space.
In an interview with artificial intelligence researcher Lex Fridman, Buterin observes that “interesting things” have originated from IOHK (Input Output Hong Kong) – the blockchain research firm associated with Cardano founder, Charles Hoskinson.
“There’s definitely interesting ideas in there. I do think Cardano takes a bit of a different approach than Ethereum in that they really emphasize having these big academic proofs for everything, whereas Ethereum tends to be more okay with heuristic arguments. In part because [Ethereum is] just trying to do more faster. But there are definitely very interesting things that come out of IOHK Research.”
The Ethereum creator, however, argues that the deep and rigorous approach to academic research taken in the development of Cardano is “overrated” because it focuses more on overcoming deficiencies within the protocol rather than external risks.
“I’m actually the sort of person who thinks deep rigor is overrated. The reason why I think deep rigor is overrated is because I think like in terms of like why protocols fail. I think the number of failures that are outside the model is bigger and more important than the failures that are inside the model.”
Additionally, Buterin says that the end product of deep and rigorous academic research is not meant for consumption by outsiders.
“And then the other thing is that a lot of the academic approach ends up basically optimizing for other people inside of the academic system. And it doesn’t really optimize for like curious outsiders.”
According to the Ethereum creator, competition among blockchains is healthy since the shortcomings of one provide a learning experience for the other.
“You know there’s a big possibility that things, the way that the Ethereum ecosystem approaches some problems is totally wrong. If there’s other ecosystems or different principles and they can do well, that’s something that we can learn from.”
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