Ethereum has long been the target of criticism from die-hard Bitcoin maximalists who believe that Bitcoin is the only worthwhile cryptocurrency despite the fact that Ethereum holds the second-highest percentage of the entire cryptocurrency market value. 

Now, another Bitcoin maximalist, Steve Barbour, has referred to the leading platform for smart contracts as garbage. 

Bitcoin Maximalist Makes Controversial Claim About Ethereum

In a social media post on X, the prominent Bitcoin enthusiast recently called Ethereum “garbage” and said it has no future. His argument essentially boils down to Ethereum failing to attract investors from the free market and nothing else. 

Ethereum is garbage. The free market doesn’t want it and the captured market still can’t figure out what it is for.

— Steve Barbour (@SGBarbour) October 16, 2023

Barbour is the founder of Upstream Data, a mining infrastructure company building off-grid Bitcoin mining rigs. His claim comes behind the heels of Ethereum staking rewards falling to new lows. 

The number of Ethereum in staking pools has been steadily growing over the past few months; however, this has not been accompanied by increased profitability. According to CoinGecko, liquid staking protocols accounted for 43.7% of the total 26.4 million ETH staked in August 2023. 

The annual percentage yield (APY) from ETH staking has decreased over the years, going from 18% in 2020 to 3% in October. Since 2022, these protocols have paid out 100,000 ETH in quarterly incentives for staking, but the low APY has led many investors to question if staking ETH is still worthwhile.

Barbour and other Bitcoin maximalists claim that Ethereum is not as decentralized as Bitcoin, particularly given that the blockchain has recently moved from proof-of-work to a proof-of-stake consensus process. 

Most of them believe that Bitcoin is the sole “true” cryptocurrency and that all other cryptocurrencies are worthless. Bitcoin maximalists have also been critical of other cryptocurrencies apart from Ethereum. Max Kaiser, another strong supporter of Bitcoin, has lately asserted that XRP is centralized.

ETH price remains firmly above $1,500 | Source: ETHUSD on Tradingview.com

Responses And Reactions

Ethereum has proven itself to be more than garbage, as evident in its vast number of supporters and large ecosystem. However, some supporters of Bitcoin agreed with the maximalist.

Agreed. It’s full of speculators

— Carnival_Poe (@Carnival_Poe) October 17, 2023

The free market has Ethereum now at $1,550. ETH has witnessed a 1.65% drop in price in the past 24 hours, and it continues to stay weaker against Bitcoin. 

On the other hand, Bitcoin has increased in dominance against altcoins. Most of the money and attention has flowed into Bitcoin, and the crypto has witnessed a 6.39% increase in the past seven days. 

As a result, ETH bulls have struggled to push above $1,600 and the crypto is now trading around the $1,550 support zone. If bulls fail to hold this level, it could start another decline to as low as $1,430.

Featured image from Forbes, chart from Tradingview.com