Ethereum Cofounder Vitalik Buterin Wants Dogecoin, Zcash to Move to Proof-of-Stake

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin hopes popular meme coin Dogecoin and privacy token Zcash will move their networks to the Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism.

Buterin expressed this view at Messari Mainnet 2022 when asked by Ryan Selkis whether all networks should move to PoS. The event also had Zcash founder Zooko Wilcox-O’Hearn in attendance.

This is not the first time that Buterin will call on Zcash to move to Proof of Stake. He said the same thing in 2018, to which Zooko replied that he was waiting for Ethereum to do it first so he could see what goes wrong.

For Dogecoin, earlier this year, it was reported that Vitalik was working with the Dogecoin foundation to migrate it from PoW to PoS. However, there is no certain date for when the switch will happen.

Selkis, who served as the moderator, asked the questions while the two provided answers, delving into various aspects of blockchain technology.

Buterin speaks on transaction fees

According to Buterin, the most important thing aside from privacy is scalability, especially in terms of fees. The viability of a blockchain compared to mainstream technology will depend on whether it costs $3 or 3 cents to send a transaction.

Buterin said:

“Transaction fees can feel like just a number, but for the communities, we want to have … outside wealthy countries … the difference between 3 dollars and 3 cents is a really big deal. And that’s something we need to actually deliver on.”

Other Ethereum development

Buterin also spoke about what comes next for Ethereum after the Merge. According to him, the Surge, the next major upgrade on Ethereum, won’t be like the Merge, it will come in stages rather than a single major event.

Buterin had earlier said Ethereum would only be 55% complete after the Merge.

Ethereum foundation said the Surge would implement sharding technology, drastically increasing Ethereum’s transaction processing rate from 20 to around 100,000 per second.

Zcash eyes higher role

Zooko spoke about Zcash’s role in the coming months, especially regarding privacy in the face of a crackdown from authorities on Tornado Cash. 

According to him, Zcash already has the technology layer and the culture of privacy, which will make a difference.

However, he did not agree with all of Buterin’s projections for Ethereum. For example, he was skeptical about the network having privacy on its base layer within five years. 

“I don’t know if you’re right that (the attempt to) re-decentralize the block producer ecosystem is going to be successful,” he added. But Vitalik replied that time would tell.

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