In a new post published on Feb. 28, Ethereum (ETH) co-founder Vitalik Buterin documented the continued need to improve the eponymous network to better facilitate ETH as a means of payment. In one case, Buterin shared how he tried to pay for tea for himself and his friends at a coffee shop in Argentina in 2021, but had to pay 0.01 ETH (about $40 at the time), as that was the minimum deposit for the account. owner exchange. “I didn’t mind the 3x overpayment and treated it as a tip,” the co-founder wrote.
In another case, Buterin explained how he tried to pay for tea elsewhere in 2022, but two separate transactions failed due to the need for “extra gas to process the transfer” and a UI glitch in his mobile wallet. Furthermore, Buterin also raised the issue of unpredictable transaction times, writing:
“Many times, there has been a surprisingly long delay between the acceptance of my transaction on the chain and the service acknowledging the transaction, even as ‘unconfirmed’. Some of those times, I definitely worried that there was something wrong with it. with the payment system on your part.”
According to Buterin, despite recent improvements, there are still outliers on the Ethereum network. “If you send a transaction at the same time that many others are sending transactions and the base fee is going up, you risk the base fee going up too much and your transaction not being accepted,” he wrote. “Worse still, the wallets UI sucks at displaying this. There are no big flashing red alerts, and very little clear indication of what you’re supposed to do to resolve this issue.” Buterin added that even experts may be confused about how to speed up transactions in these cases.
“A UI that is clean and elegant, but does some weird and inexplicable thing 0.723% of the time that causes big problems, is worse than a UI that exposes more gritty details to the user, but at least makes it easier to understand what’s going on and fix any problems that arise.”
Among other issues, Buterin raised the issue that the Internet “isn’t 100% reliable,” and the need for possible offline proof that customers did indeed transfer their transaction data directly to the merchant. Another issue raised was “the loss of a small amount of BTC and ETH”, due to secrecy-based off-chain social recovery methods for wallets, which Buterin considered fragile. According to YCharts, Ethereum transaction fees have fallen to an average of $0.656 at press time, which is much lower than the $20 average witnessed during the peak of the cryptocurrency bull market in 2021.
“Along with the very significant issue of high transaction fees due to scaling that has yet to be fully resolved, user experience is a key reason why many Ethereum users, especially in the Global South, often opt for centralized solutions instead of decentralized on-chain alternatives that keep the power in the hands of the user and their friends and family or local community.”
Clarification: The information and/or opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily represent the views or editorial line of Cointelegraph. The information presented here should not be taken as financial advice or investment recommendation. All investment and commercial movement involve risks and it is the responsibility of each person to do their due research before making an investment decision.
Investments in crypto assets are not regulated. They may not be suitable for retail investors and the entire amount invested may be lost. The services or products offered are not directed or accessible to investors in Spain.