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Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin showed sympathy for competitor Solana (SOL) in a Dec. 30 tweet. He said that \u201csmart people\u201d tell him that Solana has \u201can earnest smart developer community,\u201d and suggested that the opportunists who were involved with the project in the past have been \u201cwashed out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Buterin also expressed hope that the Solana community \u201cgets its fair chance to thrive.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nSome smart people tell me there is an earnest smart developer community in Solana, and now that the awful opportunistic money people have been washed out, the chain has a bright future.<\/p>\n
Hard for me to tell from outside, but I hope the community gets its fair chance to thrive<\/p>\n
\u2014 vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) December 29, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The price of SOL has fallen by over 90%<\/a> since its peak, partially because of the coin\u2019s association with the failed FTX exchange<\/a>. But Solana developers have argued<\/a> that FTX\u2019s collapse did not harm the network itself.<\/p>\n
Vitalik\u2019s praise for Solana impressed many in the crypto Twitter community. Ari Paul of BlockTower Capital produced<\/a> a tweet thread that argued more crypto companies should follow Vitalik\u2019s lead, as he explained,\u00a0\u201cThis is how someone behaves who is happy to \u2018compete\u2019 on merit, and thinks in positive sum terms. One fun test you can give anyone on almost anything (service providers, fund managers, devs, whatever)[…]Ask them about the competition in positive form.\u201d<\/p>\n
Not everyone was happy with Buterin\u2019s statement though. Former poker pro Mike McDonald saw the statement as \u201cvirtue signaling.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nI normally love Vitalik but this just seems like an infantilizing virtue signal to me. Like does he think Solana devs haven’t heard of Ethereum?<\/p>\n
\u2014 Mike McDonald (@MikeMcDonald89) December 29, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Some critics also thought the timing of Buterin\u2019s tweet was suspect. Would he have praised Solana if it was still doing well?<\/p>\n
\nThis is like lebron playing some random high schooler 1v1 and then saying a few nice things when Lebron wins 11-0 and the kid blows out his ACL.<\/p>\n
\u2014 Kyle Decentral (@KyleLogiks) December 30, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Solana was once dubbed an \u201cEthereum killer\u201d<\/a>, partially due to\u00a0its high scalability. But it has also been criticized by some for being too centralized and unstable<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n