A pointed critique from inside Ethereum’s developer ranks argues that ether’s 65% slide in opposition to Bitcoin (BTC) for the reason that Merge stems from particular execution failures on the Ethereum Basis, not from broad market cycles or coordination issues.
Reid, an ICO-era participant who nonetheless builds on Ethereum (ETH), revealed the indictment, framing the underperformance as gathered execution debt with names, dates, and missed product calls.
A 65% Drop With Names Hooked up
Reid’s central knowledge level strains up with public market knowledge. The ETH/BTC ratio peaked close to 0.085 across the Merge in September 2022.
It has fallen to roughly 0.028 by late Might, capturing ether’s underperformance in opposition to Bitcoin. Ether at present trades under $2,000, down 21% over the previous 12 months.
Reid rejects Bankless co-founder David Hoffman’s framing of ether’s “deserved cap” as a noble ceiling. He argues the cap sits decrease than bulls anticipated, for causes with names and dates slightly than coordination idea.
Reid covers credit score and real-world belongings at companies together with Determine and Securitize, and discloses he’s nonetheless lengthy ether.
ESG Advertising and marketing and a Lacking Staking Interface
Reid argues the Merge’s 99.95% energy-reduction message answered questions capital allocators by no means requested.
Establishments wished yield, builders wished finality, and customers wished cheaper transactions. Solana offered uncooked velocity throughout the identical window.
Proof-of-stake sat on the roadmap from 2015 and took seven years to ship. Solana launched mainnet beta in March 2020 and shipped wallets, decentralized exchanges, and cash markets whereas Ethereum debated specs.
Vitalik Buterin’s writing via 2024 and 2025 shifted from Casper specs towards pluralism and community states.
Reid reads that tone as a longtime Ethereum cultural posture slightly than an energetic aggressive one.
The smoking gun, in Reid’s learn, is the absence of a first-party staking app three years after the Merge.
The official path nonetheless requires operating a validator with at the least 32 ETH. Most customers route via Lido, which holds about 24% of staked ETH regardless of repeated centralization warnings from builders.
“‘We do not choose winners’ is what a company says when it doesn’t need to compete,” Reid remarked.
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Rollups as Managed Decline
The rollup-centric roadmap drained the bottom layer. EIP-4844 went reside in March 2024 and pushed blob charges close to 1 wei via most of 2024 and 2025.
Ethereum’s quarterly transaction charge income has fallen roughly 95% from a This fall 2021 peak of $4.3 billion.
