Three Arrows Capital founder gives up Ethereum debate, saying: "I was too emotional at the moment, but users and developers should not feel ashamed for choosing other public chains."

Over the weekend, Su Zhu, co-founder of Three Arrows Capital, and Kain, founder of Synthetix, got into a dispute over whether to switch to other underlying chains due to high fees on Ethereum. Su Zhu's subsequent tweet about "abandoning Ethereum" sparked a debate within the community.

Is Adopting Another L1 Selling Your Soul?

According to the latest news, Synthetix founder Kain Warwick tweeted on 11/20, pointing out that early on, people he respected had sold their reputations for profit. He urged everyone to remember this moment. Once Ethereum L2 kicks in, they will all come rushing back like a tide.

Shortly after, Su Zhu replied to the tweet and counterattacked by posting SNX's declining coin price and news of Kain buying a mansion, mocking his commitment to Ethereum's scaling solution's poor performance, accusing him of betraying investors. Su Zhu also expressed his support for Avalanche.

Please note that these Ethereum purists will continuously label those who adopt other L1 solutions as profit-seekers and opportunists, while simultaneously dumping their holdings to buy multiple properties. I am saddened to see you focus more on the rise of ETH assets rather than making sound technical decisions for the community. Many DeFi projects starting on Avalanche originated from Ethereum, and I urge you to observe and reflect on this.

Su Zhu Announces Abandoning Ethereum

The next day on 11/21, Su Zhu further stated that he had abandoned Ethereum, believing that Ethereum had also abandoned its users due to high fees. He criticized Ethereum's culture heavily influenced by "founder problems," where everyone became too wealthy to remember their original intentions. Perhaps it's time for people to start anew elsewhere.

Su Zhu believes that the popularity of his tweet about abandoning Ethereum resonated with users' anger. Ethereum developers painted a beautiful vision for them, but users had to pay hundreds of dollars per transaction to use it, hearing stories all day about buying Ether at $10.

Softening the Stance the Next Day

The following day, Su Zhu stated that using the term "abandonment" was a mistake and apologized for speaking in the heat of the moment. He acknowledged great teams focusing on L2 development but stressed the importance of the eth1x roadmap's underlying scalability and urged upgrades to prioritize users over early adopters' benefits. He also mentioned:

1. Always grateful for the opportunities the Ethereum ecosystem has provided since our inception, I was upset by a few people who do not represent the community as a whole.

2. I want to remind that DeFi's original intention was to serve those without bank accounts. In 2016, many Ethereum supporters criticized Bitcoin's $0.05 fee, but today, numerous users are still locked out, funds stuck on the chain, and monthly users are close to 2017 levels.

3. Today, buying a domain costs $2,000, deploying a contract costs thousands of dollars, and transferring tokens requires $50. This is dystopian. We should address the issues rather than celebrate burning more transaction fees. Such profit-seeking mentality is very dangerous.

4. I don't know what the solution is, but I am sure that as millions of new users arrive, they should not feel ashamed for choosing other ecosystems, and the same goes for developers.

5. I believe that both Bitcoin and Ethereum enthusiasts are too stuck in the past. The focus of the crypto industry should be on providing similar opportunities and freedoms to the next generation, rather than demanding their compliance and payment of rent, or praising how early we entered.

He also mentioned dydx, in which Three Arrows Capital has invested, believing it to be the best L2 product and hoping to see more projects like it.

Community Perspectives

Uniswap Founder Hayden Adams

Uniswap founder Adams responded to Su Zhu, stating that he has no particular opinion on others wanting to scale beyond decentralized base layer chains, but such remarks essentially insult all those working hard on Ethereum and L2 development. Especially coming from those who have amassed wealth through Ethereum.

dYdX Founder Antonio Juliano

Antonio Juliano pointed out that Su Zhu's words were heavier than he had expected, but he slightly agrees that Ethereum has not made beneficial proposals in the past few years, excluding dApp and rollups dYdX is built on starkware.

He emphasized that he doesn't care on which chain dYdX operates but focuses on technical trade-offs: "decentralization, security, scalability, user experience," although Ethereum is still most likely to succeed in the long run, any project that doesn't switch will be eliminated if other chains balance these attributes better.

Ethereum Founder Vitalik Buterin

Vitalik, in the Ethereum Layer 2 solution Arbitrum's DC community channel, stated,

Facing those claiming Ethereum disregards users with high fees and those blinded by wealth to the "costs unaffordable to non-millionaires," I understand the frustration. But Arbitrum is at the core of the solution, and I am pleased that all progress has been made. You should be proud that it has been adopted as a withdrawal channel by Binance, hoping more exchanges follow suit, and we are also developing decentralized Rollup cross-chain bridges.

As the event temporarily concludes, it is foreseeable that the Ethereum killer narrative will not end. Kain Warwick emphasized that he had communicated with several Avalanche protocol projects and founder Emin Gün Sirer as early as 2018.

Yearn founder Andre Cronje also voiced support for Kain Warwick, mentioning that Synthetix and Kain pioneered liquidity mining; the official Curve Finance Twitter echoed, "Yes, it all started with SNX Farming."

Su Zhu stated that he will love Ethereum a bit more in the future and respect its iconic status, hoping it will be inclusive to everyone, not just early users.