Ethereum’s Vitalik Buterin Holds Low Opinion Of Smartphone Mining

Vitalik Buterin is the co-founder of one of the most popular blockchain networks out there, Ethereum. The figurehead of the crypto industry has recently voiced his opinion when it comes to crypto mining through the use of mobile phones, something he considers to be deplorable.

Defying Economy Of Scale

On the 13th of April, 2020, Buterin posted a tweet, stating that he viewed crypto mining on mobile phones as a “fool’s game.” This comes in reference to HTC, a phone manufacturing giant, announcing that it will allow its users to mine the Monero cryptocurrency through its blockchain phone offering, the Exodus.

Mining on phones is a fool's game. Goes against everything we know about hardware economies of scale and more likely to trick users with false hope than help them.

*Staking* on phones, OTOH, is IMO quite promising…https://t.co/VGgkoHIDsP

— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) April 13, 2020

He gave further damning statements about the reaction, stating that the idea of a smartphone managing to mine stands in contradiction of everything the crypto industry has learned. It spits in the face of the economies of scale that have dominated the crypto industry, and Buterin considers it a trick to give potential users false hope, instead of actually helping them.

Mixed Reception

To add insult to injury, he stated that staking would work quite well on phones, describing it as promising.

As is the case with the crypto industry, should one form of crypto or crypto mining get criticized, it sends a slurry of mixed responses from every side of the spectrum. Many narratives were pushed, many unasked for coins, and exchanges were advertised, and many criticisms were given. Some questioned over whether or not he’s unduly dismissing the concept of crypto mining, citing the crypto mining of Ardor, which specializes in mobile phones.

Decisiveness At Its Finest

Others cite some strange narrative where PoW mining benefits the rich in some unscrupulous way due to the ability to use CPU to mine. The argument goes that rich people can buy a lot of mining power, thus making a lot of money. Therefore, the user considered this deplorable.

The crypto industry as a whole is a very complicated place, in terms of culture. Behaviors bordering on outright tribalism exist on all fronts. Many groups of people simply bang their drums, singing the endless praises of their crypto without taking things into consideration.

The announcement of HTC’s new mining option comes shortly after it signed a partnership with ASIC chip designing firm, Midas labs. According to HTC, it’s possible to “reduce” the power consumption and overall cost by transferring it to mobile devices.