Reformed maxi Erik Vorhees joins the burning debate spurred by Jack Dorsey’s Web3 rant

Original author: Ana Grabundzija

Jack Dorsey’s recent comments surrounding the concept of Web 3 stirred up a fiery discussion among the crypto community on Twitter–bringing out all shades of tribalism, maximalism, and cypherpunk righteousness.

ShapeShift CEO Erik Vorhees joined the ongoing debate, arguing that Proof of Stake (PoS) has some advantages over the Proof of Work (PoW) consensus mechanism, but the former CEO of Twitter didn’t seem to appreciate his comments.

“Bitcoin or bust”

Let’s rewind to Dorsey’s comment that brought up all the drama currently going on Twitter.

You don’t own “web3.”

The VCs and their LPs do. It will never escape their incentives. It’s ultimately a centralized entity with a different label.

Know what you’re getting into…

— jack (@jack) December 21, 2021

“You don’t own “web3.” The VCs and their LPs do. It will never escape their incentives. It’s ultimately a centralized entity with a different label. Know what you’re getting into…”–wrote the staunch Bitcoin maximalist, expressing his opinion on the next iteration of the internet.

He couldn’t have been more clear about what he thinks of the next, decentralized version of the Web, referred to as Web3, which he believes would be owned by rich VCs instead of “the people.”

Dorsey, who in the meantime posted that he was blocked on Twitter by renowned venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, replied to an allegation that his Web3 commentary generates from a “Bitcoin or bust” attitude and dislike for Ethereum.

I’m not anti ETH. I’m anti-centralized, VC-owned, single point of failure, and corporate controlled lies. If your goal is anti establishment, I promise you it isn’t ethereum. Don’t believe or trust me! Just look at the fundamentals.

— jack (@jack) December 23, 2021

“I’m not anti ETH. I’m anti-centralized, VC-owned, single point of failure, and corporate controlled lies. If your goal is anti establishment, I promise you it isn’t ethereum. Don’t believe or trust me! Just look at the fundamentals,” replied Dorsey, and a myriad of responses followed.

“A reasonable position to take”

ShapeShift CEO Erik Vorhees, was amongst many who commented Dorsey’s tweets, arguing that “a reasonable position to take is that Ethereum is less decentralized on X metric, less predictable, and more risky than Bitcoin.”

A reasonable position to take is that Ethereum is less decentralized on X metric, less predictable, and more risky than Bitcoin.

An unreasonable position to take is what @jack is expressing. https://t.co/790glrPWb2

— Erik Voorhees (@ErikVoorhees) December 23, 2021

The reformed Bitcoin maximalist called out Dorsey for expressing his “unreasonable position” and noted lower energy usage as a pro PoS argument–a fact of possibly great importance in the context of potential regulatory blocks.

“It doesn’t mean PoS is superior. It does mean PoS has a different adversarial attack surface, and this alone advances decentralization and anti-fragility of crypto as a whole,” he followed up.

This point deserves more air time.

It doesn’t mean PoS is superior. It does mean PoS has a different adversarial attack surface, and this alone advances decentralization and anti-fragility of crypto as a whole. https://t.co/kMrGhrjOoE

— Erik Voorhees (@ErikVoorhees) December 23, 2021

“A cypherpunk that maintained fidelity to principle would understand this immediately. A cypherpunk that fell victim to tribalism and group-think might reject it,” added Vorhees, but his “neither system is perfect” diplomacy didn’t sit well with Dorsey, who promptly unfollowed him on Twitter.