Hoskinson once again took to Twitter to update his opinion on the Ethereum blockchain. He used the statement that it is similar to Hotel California and The Shining. What is it about?
Ethereum and OFAC
In a November 11 tweet, Cardano creator Charles Hoskinson shared some cryptic graphics and mentioned that:
“Ethereum now has two for one: Hotel California and Shining.”
The graphic is not new, as its publication took place on October 16 of this year. Its author is a user known as @takenstheorem. With its help he depicted almost all Ethereum blocks obtained after The Merge. In doing so, he noted that those indicated in red were censored.
It is to the censorship that Hoskinson’s comment refers. The vast majority of post-Merge blocks on the Ethereum network at the time were in compliance with the US sanctions unit, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).
To understand what Hoskinson meant, it’s worth explaining what The Shining is. It’s a fairly popular horror film that premiered back in 1980. It was created on the basis of a Stephen King novel and tells the story of a family locked in a hotel ruled by supernatural forces. Many people note that the film may actually be figurative, putting American imperialism in the spotlight. Most likely, Hoskinson is pointing to this interpretation of the graphic.
What is the problem with Ethereum?
The trend raising concerns about Ethereum censorship is emerging with the ever-increasing use of mev-boost. By making mev-boosting work, it improves the work of validators and the number of validators increases. Validators thus decide on relays, the service with the help of which they produce individual blocks. Seven of these are available, of which only three are not OFAC compliant. It is the use of the non-compliant ones that the community insists on. This would guarantee that the chain remains neutral. However, those relays that show this compliance are proving more profitable when approving transactions. It results in increased pressure to censor Ethereum.
Cardano’s advantage over Ethereum
Between the lines, one can see that with this, Charles Hoskinson wants to draw attention to the advantage Cardano is building over Ethereum. The CEO of Input Output Global is known for pointing out specific differences between his blockchain and its competitors. In terms of Ethereum, however, it’s worth noting that as long as at least one of the validators remains neutral, a portion of the transactions will be processed in non-compliance with OFAC. This means that the network will still not be fully censored.
