Canadian businessman Kevin O'Leary recently issued a warning about Ethereum, the second-largest blockchain network, claiming that it tends to "crack" under pressure.
"For over a decade, we’ve talked about going on-chain, and now with real-world adoption finally happening, the cracks are showing," O'Leary said.
The "Shark Tank" host claims that the popular blockchain network got "congested," which resulted in sky-high fees of over $1,000. "That’s like paying a thousand-dollar toll to drive on a one-lane highway," he quipped.
An extreme exaggeration?
However, many members of the Ethereum community disputed the claim, noting that actual gas costs were $22 for a simple swap for roughly one hour. While the fees were still high, they were not even remotely as high as O'Leary claimed.
Some have noted that the layer-1 network is not actually supposed to handle retail traffic.
"O’Leary’s take is like saying airplane wheels are too small. True, but completely missing the point… It is the final settlement layer for the on-chain economy, focused on security, neutrality, and auditability," influential Ethereum community member Adriano Feria said in a social media post.
Rejecting altcoins
As reported by U.Today, O'Leary recently announced that he was going to focus only on Bitcoin and Ethereum, rejecting altcoins.
The Canadian businessman is convinced that these two coins alone provide 90% of the entire crypto exposure.
Dan Burgin
Vladislav Sopov
U.Today Editorial Team