Vitalik Buterin
Vitalik Buterin

All is not well between Ethereum’s Vitalik Buterin and Michael Saylor

Vitalik Buterin
Vitalik Buterin

In the world of crypto, occasional conflicts aren’t a novelty. Sometimes the exuberant optimism and support for one cryptocurrency might also come out in the form of opposition and dislike towards another. In a competitive environment, such differences of opinion are inevitable. At the moment, Ethereum’s co-founder Vitalik Buterin has come to the spotlight after giving a very creative label for Microstrategy’s Michael Saylor, “a total clown.” What led Buterin to come down on Saylor so harshly? Read along to know more.

The What and Why

It is known that Michael Saylor is a flag bearer for Bitcoin. And apparently, Saylor just went ahead and declared that Ethereum is unethical. In a recent video clip, Saylor talked about securities laws and how they are based on Decalogue. According to Saylor, “The basis of securities laws is thou shall not lie, cheat, or steal. That’s the basis of the law.” This is why he doesn’t agree with the popular argument that securities laws are antiquated. In addition to this, Saylor also said that Ethereum is a “security.”

If Saylor thought that the Ethereum community would keep quiet when he slammed the second-largest cryptocurrency, then he was wrong. The Ethereum community hit back with equal strength. They even took Saylor down memory lane by reminding him that back in 2000, the Securities and Exchange Commission had accused him of securities fraud. Now that is a hit right on the face. Well, you cannot slam a whole community and then expect everything to be calm and peaceful. In 2000, following the accusations, Saylor neither accepted nor denied the charges. Instead, he settled with the regulator by paying a fine. Talk about a diplomatic way out. The same year, Saylor’s company made massive profits despite the loss of such a huge amount. This played a key role in bolstering the value of the company.

Gary Gensler, the SEC chair has stated multiple times that a good majority of digital assets in circulation can be labeled unregistered securities.

Let us flip through a few reactions on Twitter

https://twitter.com/burnpile_eth/status/1553608697569456129?s=20&t=Eh98vazjMxk5fEf4ktoVWA

https://twitter.com/NFT__machine/status/1553621218942586880?s=20&t=Eh98vazjMxk5fEf4ktoVWA