Key Takeaways
Charles Hoskinson, Cardano founder, believes Ethereum will become obsolete like BlackBerry in 10-15 years.
Key flaws identified in Ethereum include its accounting model, virtual machine, and consensus model.
Remember BlackBerry? Once the ultimate status symbol in tech, it ruled the mobile world—until it failed to adapt to rapid innovation and shifting user demands, eventually falling out of favor.
Now Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson warns that Ethereum could be next.
In a recent AMA session, the American entrepreneur said that the leading smart contract platform won’t survive for more than 10 to 15 years, as layer 2s drain its value, internal divisions grow, and users gradually migrate to more efficient ecosystems like Bitcoin DeFi.
“I don’t think Ethereum will survive…more than 10 years to 15 years,” Hoskinson said.
“The layer twos will continue to suckle out all of the alpha and people will start fighting and it’ll get harder and harder for Vitalik to be able to hold it together through sheer force of will and users will gradually migrate to other places and then they’re going to get eclipsed by Bitcoin DeFi,” he added.
Hoskinson called Ethereum “a brilliant project,” but like Myspace and Blackberry, it could fall apart as some, if not many, newer systems are smarter and more efficient, and those systems will win out over time.
“It’s just a victim of its own success like Myspace or any of these other things that have a lot of network effect and momentum. Blackberry is another example,” he said. “And the other thing is they’re eaten alive by Solana.”
Hoskinson, who co-founded Ethereum, also pointed out three key reasons he believes Ethereum is fundamentally flawed, including its outdated technical architecture, the destabilizing effect of layer 2 networks, and the absence of effective on-chain governance.
Hoskinson said that Ethereum’s accounting model, virtual machine, and consensus mechanism are poorly designed. In his view, its current approach to proof of stake is problematic and not built for long-term success.
Regarding layer 2 solutions, rather than strengthening Ethereum, these platforms may ultimately splinter the ecosystem and make it increasingly difficult to maintain unity across the protocol, according to him.
Institutions dump ETH, Ethereum network activity hits multi-year lows
Hoskinson’s comments come at a time when the Ethereum ecosystem is confronting some of its most fundamental challenges to date.
Base-layer activity is collapsing, key metrics like fees and network usage have recently dropped to multi-year lows, and Ether (ETH) is no longer deflationary, reversing one of its most attractive value propositions.
Plus, institutional investors are pulling back. On-chain data tracked by Lookonchain earlier this week suggested that Galaxy Digital had rotated out of Ethereum and into Solana.
It seems that Galaxy Digital is selling $ETH and buying $SOL! In the past 2 weeks, Galaxy Digital deposited 65,600 $ETH ($105.48M) to #Binance and withdrew 752,240 $SOL ($98.37M) from #Binance.
Paradigm has also reduced their ETH holdings. According to analyst EmberCN, the company moved 5,500 ETH to Anchorage Digital on Monday. Historically, ETH sent to Anchorage by Paradigm has often ended up on centralized exchanges like Coinbase and Binance.
The network’s rollup-centric scaling strategy, meant to improve efficiency via layer 2 solutions, is now backfiring in some ways. These L2s are drawing activity away from the main chain, which has contributed to weaker fee burns and network fragmentation.
Despite the downturn, some whales are quietly accumulating, betting on a recovery. While short-term sentiment is cautious—Standard Chartered recently slashed its 2025 ETH price forecast—there’s still belief among some investors that Ethereum has upside potential, especially at current prices.