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Head of Binance reveals old photo with Vitalik Buterin, calls not buying Ethereum early 'miss of a life time'

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Now that the eighth anniversary of the Ethereum launch has arrived, the head of Binance Changpeng Zhao (CZ) has shared a rare photo where he and Vitalik Buterin can be seen together in the company of others.

CZ admits that not buying Ethereum back then motivated him to undertake the biggest task of his lifetime building and launching the Binance exchange.

The photo shared by CZ where he is standing next to Buterin in his own flat in Tokyo was taken on May 2, 2015, per the tweet. CZ wrote that, back then, Buterin was staying at his place during the trip to Japan and "was already working on and talking about ETH non-stop."

Changpeng Zhao confessed that he did not buy Ethereum when it launched and called it the "miss of a lifetime." However, this presented him with a great opportunity and the motivation to create Binance, which later turned into a crypto trading platform with the largest trading volume in the world.

It sounded as if CZ hinted that if he had bought ETH at an early stage, he would be a billionaire now without having to create Binance, which was launched in 2017 two years after the Ethereum ICO and it was based on the Ethereum blockchain too, as were many other platforms back then.

According to a response from CZ to a Twitter user under his post, he has known Buterin since 2013: "Coming up to 10 years in Dec, I think."

In an earlier tweet, on Sunday, CZ sent congratulations on the birth of Ethereum to Buterin. He stressed that Ethereum made possible ICOs and, if it had not been for that, Binance would never have been born.

On July 31, another popular cryptocurrency celebrates its birthday; popular meme coin Shiba Inu (SHIB) emerged into the market on July 31, 2020, created by the pseudonymous Ryoshi and Shytoshi Kusama (the latter remains the project's lead developer).

The initial price of the coin was $0.000000001009, according to CoinMarketCap. Per the video shared by Lucie, the marketing specialist of SHIB, there were Shiba Inu tokens owned by the founders initially by default, and Ryoshi bought all his SHIB from the free market to stress the principle of equality on which, among others (such as decentralization), SHIB was founded. The video also claims that zero funds were spent on the creation and promotion of Shiba Inu into the crypto community by Ryoshi.

Shiba Inu was also launched on the Ethereum chain. At the end of May 2022, Ryoshi deleted all of his social media accounts and went under the radar, similar to the move made by Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto in 2010.

Shytoshi Kusama now remains at the head of the SHIB team, which is about to launch the Layer 2 network Shibarium. After that, according to his recent tweets, Shytoshi will also step down from his role of the leader as SHIB will be totally run by the community.

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CZ Says He Would Not Have Started Binance Had He Bought ETH Early - U.Today

Worldcoin launched to much fanfare on Mondaybut Ethereum's Vitalik Buterin has identified four "major issues" with the project's design.

Founded by Sam Altmanthe CEO of OpenAIthe company is offering a "digital passport" that allows owners to prove they're human, and not a bot. This is achieved through the use of Orbs, machines that scan a person's eyeball to create a World ID.

In a lengthy new blog post, Buterin argues that an effective, reliable proof-of-personhood system, like Worldcoin, "seems very valuable," but warns there are big risks in the race to develop one.

The Ethereum co-founder's first concern relates to privacyand the act of scanning someone's iris. Buterin fears this could capture much more data than meets the eye, including a person's sex, ethnicity and even certain medical conditions.

Perhaps Buterin's most practical argument concerns accessibilityand how likely it's going to be that everyone who wants a World ID can get one.

The latest figures from Worldcoin suggest 1,500 Orbs will be available in 35 global cities as the year progresseshelping the total number of weekly registrations surge from 40,000 people a week to 200,000.

Overall, it estimates that two million have already signed up for a World ID.

Suggesting that sign-ups could plateau quickly, Buterin wrote: "While there are billions of smartphones, there are only a few hundred Orbs. Even with much higher-scale distributed manufacturing, it would be hard to get to a world where there's an Orb within five kilometers of everyone."

If Orbs do become prolific, he believes the headaches wouldn't stop here. He pointed out that there's nothing to stop a government from banning Orbs in their countryor using this technology to coerce citizens.

Buterin's third concern centers on centralizationa pejorative for crypto projects the world over.

In his blog, he points out that Orbs are hardware devices where backdoors could be installed into the systemallowing malicious manufacturers to create many bogus human identities.

"If even one Orb manufacturer is malicious or hacked, it can generate an unlimited number of fake iris scan hashes, and give them World IDs," Buterin warned.

While Worldcoin vows to perform regular audits on Orbs to ensure they are built correctly, Buterin is calling for the project to ensure that World IDs generated with different manufacturers are distinguishable from one another. He believes this could weed out malicious activity, adding: "If we see the North Korean government going around and forcing people to scan their eyeballs, those Orbs and any accounts produced by them could be immediately retroactively disabled."

Finally, he warned about securitybut stressed this affects all proof-of-personhood systems and not just Worldcoin.

He believes an "unlimited amount of identities" could be generated if Orbs mistakenly approve the irises of AI-generated photographs or 3D prints of fake people. There's also a danger of someone selling on or renting their World ID to someone elseor losing it after a phone hacking.

Buterin argues that, while there could be some solutions to all of his concerns, Worldcoin may need to team up with other proof-of-personhood projects that score more highly on decentralization, accessibility, and protection against fake users.

He concluded by stressing he believes a world without proof-of-personhood also has dangersand said building a robust system won't be easy nor quick.

"I definitely do not envy the people attempting the task, and it will likely take years to find a formula that works," he said.

Worldcoin did not immediately respond to Decrypts request for comment.

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Worldcoin Has 'Major Issues' and Will Take Years to Work, Vitalik Buterin Warns - Decrypt

Disclaimer: This article is sponsored content and should not be considered as financial or investment advice. Always do your own research before making any financial decisions. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of CryptoGlobe.

Over the years, Ethereum has emerged as one of the most powerful crypto platforms, with a strong focus on innovation, research and development. The numerous upgrades that the network has undergone since its inception allowed Ethereum to stay flexible, adapt to new challenges and maintain its relevancy in the fast-paced crypto industry by improving its scalability, safety and sustainability.

However, developments and advances should always be planned carefully and approached with caution in order to reduce risks and ensure positive outcomes. That makes one of the main points of interest for Ethereum developers. While users are primarily concerned about Ethereums price evolution, its potential as a short- and long-term investment or the best way to buy Ethereum, things look a bit differently on the other side of the fence where developers have their eyes set on completely different aspects.

Ethereums co-founder Vitalik Buterin seems preoccupied with one aspect in particular, as revealed in his latest blog post titled Dont overload Ethereums consensus. In the post, Buterin expresses his concerns over extending Ethereums consensus layer beyond its current purposes, talking about the risks and implications this might have on the network while also offering a few potential solutions in this respect.

For those who tuned in late to the crypto craze and are not familiar with Ethereums inner workings, we should start by explaining what a consensus mechanism is. In simple terms, a consensus mechanism refers to a range of protocols and practices employed by blockchain systems such as Ethereum to reach agreements that determine the state of the network and ensure its proper functioning.

There are different types of consensus mechanisms in blockchain, each of them with its unique characteristics, advantages and challenges. Ethereum currently relies on a proof-of-stale (PoS) consensus layer, but that wasnt always the case. When it was launched, Ethereum was based on a proof-of-work (PoW) protocol, just like the one Bitcoin still uses. While PoW has proven effective in verifying and validating transactions, it requires considerable amounts of computing resources which translates into massive energy consumption. As a result, crypto networks that use PoW have been harshly criticized for their lack of sustainability.

Being aware of this issue, Ethereum developers decided to relinquish the energy-intensive PoW and replace it with the eco-friendlier PoS. That seemed to be the plan all along, but at the time the network was launched this was not yet feasible. In the end, the switch from PoW to PoS took place in September 2022, in an upgrade commonly referred to as the Merge.

Under the new PoS protocol, miners were replaced with validators, changing the way blocks are validated. In order to qualify as a validator, users have to stake a specific number of coins, usually 32 ETH. An algorithm randomly asks a validator to propose a block and then other random validators are tasked with reviewing, validating and adding new transaction blocks to the blockchain.

After successfully completing the process, validators are rewarded with new ETH. This arbitrary selection eliminates the computer-powered competition from the equation, thus substantially reducing the network energy consumption. After transitioning to the PoS consensus, Ethereum managed to cut its energy usage by up to 99%, becoming one of the most sustainable blockchains in existence.

At the moment, the PoS consensus is strictly used to verify and validate transactions, and Ethereums co-founder Vitalik Buterin thinks things should remain this way. According to Buterin who posted a lengthy blog on the topic, attempting to include other functions to Ethereums consensus would open the network to systemic risks.

Buterin went on to talk about the various proposals and suggestions that emerged over the years with regard to extending the use cases of the consensus mechanism. Ideas such as using the consensus protocol for price and data oracles, or re-staking initiatives were considered at some point. He noted that attempting to add new features and functionalities to the networks core is to be expected since this is the area that attracts the most attention from stakeholders and the crypto community at large.

However, one should also consider the risks associated with these types of changes as any new addition could make the network more vulnerable and fragile. The Russian-Canadian computer programmer explained that in doing so, the likelihood of high systemic risks such as bugs or an intentional 51% attack would increase considerably. To exemplify, Buterin talked about the risk of creating ETH/USD price oracles, where validators could be offered money to vote in a certain way. Nevertheless, he did mention that oracles require improvement, but suggested addressing them individually given that each issue comes presents different challenges.

Overall, Buterins message was to maintain the networks minimalism and refrain from extending the scope of the consensus mechanism with extra functionalities that can cause more harm than good. He also added that there one should look for alternative strategies to support developers in their endeavors of improving the system and reaching security goals.

In the fast-evolving crypto space, the Ethereum network has earned a name as a trailblazer due to its constant upgrades and forward-thinking nature. Ethereum has always stood out from other crypto projects through its ever-expanding use cases and its potential to drive innovation and disruption across a wide range of industries and sectors.

However, as Vitalik Buterin pointed out in his latest blog post, developments dont come without risks. One shouldnt innovate just for the sake of innovation. The wiser approach is to analyze both potential benefits and hazards and decide if its worth taking the leap or not. This stands true for Ethereum and all other blockchain platforms that are looking to improve their operations and distinguish themselves from their competitors.

Featured image via Pixabay.

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