Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has acknowledged that high fees remain a significant challenge for the digital asset, posing a threat to the vision of creating a decentralized economy.
Speaking during an interview with Time magazine, Buterin noted that high fees are derailing Ethereum’s usability as the migration to the proof of stake (PoW) continues.
“Fees are a huge problem for Ethereum’s usability, especially for things other than some of the financial applications that have dominated recently,” he said.
Picks for you
Furthermore, Buterin also expressed his frustration with the impact of high fees and how it’s affecting the implementation of critical projects. At the same time, he showed optimism that if sharding is carried out, the fees could come down.
“The main thing that prevents Ethereum from being used for cool stuff today is just the fees. It feels like a boring answer; there’s this big social problem in Ethereum and the biggest reason for it is one technical thing that hasn’t been done fast enough,” he added.
Besides high fees, Buterin stated that the decentralized goal of the platform might be derailed by bad actors who are after personal gains.
According to the founder, solving shortcomings such as gas fees might position Ethereum to act as a launchpad for socio-political changes.
Although Ethereum has received criticism for its high fees, data shows a shift. As per our report, the Ethereum blockchain on March 9 recorded a drop in transaction gas fees to a six-month low, the lowest level since August 2021.
The gas fees had recently surged, with experts attributing it to a rise in interest in non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and decentralized finance (DeFi).
Ethereum nears PoS migration
As reported by Finbold, Ethereum is working to roll out the PoS with the planned merge. The anticipated Ethereum Merge will help connect the current Mainnet with the Beacon Chain PoS system.
The upgrade will enable the Mainnet to continue securing the Proof of Work protocol while the Beacon Chain runs simultaneously using PoS. Generally, this brings an end to Ethereum’s PoW and launches the PoS transition.
