Now that the Ethereum merge is finishVitalik Buterin thinks other blockchains like Dogecoin and Zcash must follow.
“As evidence that the interest is waning, I expect it will only increase more and more in legitimacy over time,” Vitalik said during a video chat at the Messari Mainnet conference on Friday.
“I hope that Zcash moves over. I’m also very hopeful that Dogecoin will soon evolve to proof of stake,” he added.
Earlier this month, Ethereum performed its long-awaited merger eventshifting its main network from the energy intensive proof of work (PoW) model to the more energy efficient proof of the game (PoS) model.
The high-stakes event went smoothly, Buterin said, despite every test network merger experiencing “some glitch.”
Zcash can join Dogecoin, Ethereum
At Mainnet, Buterin spoke with Messari CEO Ryan Selkis and Electric Coin Company CEO Zooko Wilcox-O’Hearn (Electric Coin Company leads Zcash development).
“You emailed me your plan for Ethereum, and I was like ‘holy shit.’ This is so exciting. And it will never work,” Wilcox-O’Hearn said. “And then you and the Ethereum [developers] proved me wrong. It totally worked.”
Zooko, who is best known for his association with the PoW privacy coin Zcash, also thought that the Ethereum merger “would never work.”
But now he’s singing a different tune.
“You should be proud of yourself for the rest of your life,” Zooko said, referring to Ethereum developers and Buterin.
When asked if Zcash would perform its own merger-like event, Electric Coin Company’s CEO said he is waiting to see how Ethereum fares since the upgrade.
“We were literally waiting to see what we could learn from Ethereum,” Zooko said. “I think what we’ve learned is that it actually works.”
Proof-of-play season
But what does Buterin think of other blockchains besides Zcash and Doge making the leap to PoS?
“For the other chains, we will see,” he said. “Some of them may; I’m sure some of them never will. There may even be a compromise middle ground where some chains end up moving towards some kind of hybrid proof of stake.
But for now, Buterin is simply relieved with the state of Ethereum, which he says is now in a much better position after the merger.
“A sky that has been cloudy for almost a decade has finally cleared,” he added.
