Ethereum is here and ready today

Why ETH 1.X is already the champion that we keep looking for within ETH 2.0

Lately we’ve been seeing lots of sustained momentum behind the anticipation of Eth 2, and how its arrival will herald a new age in blockchain usability and success. But what if Ethereum HAS arrived, and is ready for use by individuals and corporations alike- today? Your friendly neighbourhood brand consultant would like to share his optimism with you.

Bouncing off this brilliant comment on Reddit by /u/hugelung the lead dev for flowerpatch.app, he reminds us of the danger for pinning all our hopes on the imminent 'rapture' of POS. Namely, the later-than-expected shipping date (which is to be expected), and its limited functionality for quite a good while after launch.

Ok but here's the good news- all that shouldn't matter. Because the wonderful thing about decentralised development is: Parallel development. Plenty of usable goodies coming out from scaling and UX tech today. The latter segment of hugelung's comment has a short&sweet list of this, including but not limited to: instant on-boarding, UX around gas payments, scalability with rollups and plasma.

Don't just take it from him or me, though. May I suggest listening to Paul Brody from EY? We are fresh off their Global Summit last month, and frankly, their on-boarding numbers are staggering. I've said this before and it bears repeating, the corporate blockchain race is already won. Barring any black swans, the lead which Ethereum has pulled out isn't something I foresee as surmountable in the next 5 years. The next frontier is ironically, mainstream retail and the VC-class, which are driven by narratives and its corresponding ebb and flow influence on markets. And a strong organisational narrative may be what Ethereum is lacking. Businesses and corporations have much greater skin in the game because their very livelihoods are at stake, and they need to make the right decision- today. Which is why they choose Ethereum.

So why am I telling you all these? ETH 1.X may be our champion, but we need to champion it too. For the outsider looking in, our obsession with Eth 2 signals a product that is not yet ready, where Eth 1.X is a beta and only Eth 2 is worthy. Which could not be further from the truth. There is the potential to on-board mainstream here and now, but we have to be confident about it. Perfectionism is the opposite of good. 

Not to mention, maxis can pick up on this fixation with Eth 2 and twist it into a form of insecurity. Our insecurity. Remember "EtHEReum cAN't scAle" and "EtH 2 wiLL nevER ShiP"? Every time we pin our hopes on Eth 2 while forgetting the progress being made on Eth 1.X, we agree with them and validate them.

Before I get some people riled up that I even dare give a modicum of attention to maxis, please reseat yourselves. Consider this. Maxis may be the opposite of constructive, which is why many including myself advocate ignoring them. But they can be destructive, and we need to be aware of that. People who have been around for a while know that coordinated groups exist just to execute smear campaigns on other blockchains. The fewer attack vectors we give them, the better. Let’s just leave it at that.

In any case, the maxis don't matter too in the face of the truth. Truth is, Ethereum can be used today for a blinding myriad of purposes. Not only DeFi, entire global supply chains are being put on Ethereum. Let the core devs quietly handle ETH 2.0. Our job as frontline ambassadors is to create that protective dome around them, and keep the public eye focused on the here and now. If any pressure is to be applied to them, it should come from us- the ones who are most vested in Ethereum’s success, and not malicious actors who serve only as a disruptive force.

And to do that, we need to ensure we’re in the position to give an informed opinion on the matter. Every single one of you is that ambassador. Decentralisation isn’t just on the devs and their code, it’s in the hearts and minds of people. Educate yourself on what's happening on Eth 1.X today so that you may not only propagate a stronger brand image for Ethereum, you may even find it more exciting- because most of them are coming at us way faster than full POS.

Ready to take action? EthHub is a good place to start some easy reading on Eth 1.X. Shoutout to Eric and Sassal for maintaining this absolute gem of a resource.