Ethereum’s biggest risks and top criticisms

Ethereum is a blockchain-powered platform for building decentralized software and apps

Among crypto enthusiasts, ethereum is known for the cryptocurrency it uses to facilitate transactions: ether, or ETH. It's often compared to an app store. The underpinnings of ethereum's blockchain include dApps, which operate using automated scripts called "smart contracts."

Ethereum Founder Vitalik Buterin was surprised by the emergence of NFTs

Scams have pervaded the NFT space and made critics question their legitimacy, but proponents believe their use cases could one day extend to real estate and credit scores.

The Ethereum Foundation’s latest report

The Ethereum Foundation is a nonprofit organization supporting Ethereum in several ways. These include providing grants to developers who want to build on the blockchain, and hosting events promoting crypto’s future, like Devcon. This annual report grants a peek into the nonprofit’s role in Ethereum's operations and the values it seeks to support through its work. The nonprofit’s frontline involvement is another differentiating factor between Ethereum and other cryptocurrencies.

Ethereum Classic and the Ethereum hard fork

One year after its launch, Ethereum was forked into two blockchains as a workaround to return funds stolen in a major hack to users. To this day, Ethereum Classic operates separately from Ethereum, and the two blockchains have different goals. Because of this split, investors must be cautious and ensure they’re interacting with the correct blockchain. Funds can’t simply be transferred from one to the other. Learn more here.

A letter to Ethereum’s community from an early builder

Fuel Network CEO Nick Dodson writes about his experience as an early app builder on the Ethereum blockchain. He talks about why he perceives Ethereum as being different from rival blockchains like Solana, espousing the ethos and “spirit” of the Ethereum network and community. At the same time, he lays out some hopes he has for the future of Ethereum in a telling peek into an Ethereum insider’s brain. Read the letter here.

Vitalik Buterin explains ethereum in 30 minutes

Every year, ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin explains what his crypto platform is in a 30-minute presentation at the Ethereum Foundation’s event, Devcon. Buterin’s explanation goes deeper than a simple 101 explanation. To learn more about the current state of ethereum, what’s changed recently, and what Buterin expects down the road, watch this video.

Cofounder Gavin Wood said Ethereum is going nowhere

Ethereum’s other cofounder, and the person known for coining the term “Web3,” Gavin Wood, ended his direct involvement with Ethereum in 2016. After that, he founded Polkadot with the aim of resolving the issues he saw with Ethereum. In this podcast, Wood says he thinks Ethereum is a financial success but that its progress has stalled. He also talks about hopes he had for the platform that have yet to be realized.

What does the surge phase mean for Ethereum?

The Surge is the next major upgrade for Ethereum. It’s a process aiming to scale up Ethereum, letting it handle more transactions, more efficiently. A key part of this process involves “layer 2 rollups,” which bundle transactions in part of the blockchain to process them more quickly. The Surge is expected to improve Ethereum’s decentralization and lower gas fees. Learn more in this article.

Some argue that stablecoins are unnecessary due to the ubiquity of the US dollar

Others have criticized fiat-backed stablecoins for their lack of decentralization, believing that digital currencies not controlled by central banks will become more popular in the future.

Expert predictions on the metaverse

Experts are split about the likely evolution of a truly immersive metaverse. Many worry current online problems may be magnified if Web3 development is led by those who built today’s dominant web platforms.

Using cryptocurrency to turn traditional financial arrangements on their head

Cryptocurrency is poised to drastically change everything in the financial world, including financial arrangements. Decentralized finance makes it easier for virtually anyone to take advantage of financial markets without the need for a bank. However, there are new risks involved as well. Professor of Legal Studies and Business Ethics Kevin Werbach, an expert on Bitcoin and blockchains discusses it all in detail in The Conversation.

Bluesky is gaining momentum by offering users full control over their experience

Controversial changes made by Elon Musk to X have inspired an exodus from that platform and growth in Bluesky. The latter's open-source model gives users customizable feeds, portability between services, and a "billionaire-proof" design that prevents corporate takeover.

The security and privacy risks of augmented reality

One of the most serious perceived risks of augmented reality is the loss of privacy. Because AR technology can see what users are doing, user privacy is jeopardized. AR collects far more information about who users are and what they are doing than...

Critics say Burning Man pollutes and promotes elitism

Following the storms and extreme circumstances of the 2023 Burning Man, discourse has circulated about elitism, pollution, and more problems brought by the festival.

Minor technology failures can spiral into massive internet outages

A mix of centralized cloud infrastructure and legacy protocols leaves the internet susceptible to downtime from minor cyberattacks or software bugs, infrastructure damage caused by extreme weather, and human error if a DNS service provider—the internet's phone book—or a backend system, such as Amazon Web Services, were compromised.

Explore the components of autonomous vehicles controls

A suite of cutting-edge hardware and computation-intensive software creates the potential for self-driving cars to be safer, more fuel-efficient, and more accessible to a broader range of drivers. However, automation also introduces potential cybersecurity threats.

The culture Ray Dalio created at Bridgewater Associates is often criticized

Despite large returns, former employees report meticulous logs of mistakes, intense public questioning of junior-level staffers, recordings of all meetings being made available to all employees, and highly confrontational meetings—many of which are attributed to the book of more than 100 principles Dalio gives each employee. (Some users may experience a paywall)

Wind farms are targets for conspiracy theories due to their visibility and complexity

The proliferation of misinformation and conspiracy theories surrounding wind farms is driven by deep-seated anxieties about change, distrust of government, and resistance to confronting the complexities of modern energy solutions.

WeWork’s S-1 was full of alarming financial and business information that concerned investors and the public

When WeWork’s S-1 came out, investors were particularly concerned about WeWork’s expenses far outpacing its growing revenue and its complex company structure, as well as a few potential conflicts of interest within the company.

The biggest controversies of the NFL

Some of the biggest controversies in NFL history didn’t just spark debate—they changed the game. From Spygate and Deflategate to concussion research and the league's ambivalent stance on it, these moments led to new rules, safety measures, and major policy shifts. Explore how each scandal shaped the league and its future.

The World Bank, IMF, and WTO all face calls for structural reform

Researchers argue that all three major institutions face legitimacy and effectiveness challenges, including outdated governance structures, unequal voting power, and difficulty adapting to a more multipolar world.

Cryptocurrency and data center growth are expected to increase greenhouse gas emissions

An analysis from the Open Energy Outlook Initiative estimates a 30% increase in emissions through 2030, as growing energy demands in regions where data centers are being built (20%-30%) far exceed the traditional growth rate of utilities in those areas (1%-2%). The emissions spike is expected to equal France's annual carbon output.

Gas stations top the list of riskiest places to use a debit card

Unlike credit cards, debit cards withdraw funds directly from your checking account, and federal laws provide fewer consumer protections against debit fraud. Gas station "skimmers" and long periods of separation from the card at restaurants are some of the more vulnerable spots for use.

One critic argues opera needs a new business plan

Christos Makridis, a labor economist at Arizona State University, argues that the public has an appetite for the art form, but that the industry's business model is dated, relying too heavily on philanthropy and aging season ticket holders rather than embracing innovation.

The 401(k) is limited in its ability to provide guaranteed retirement income

Part of the problem is the high, often hidden fees associated with the accounts and a lack of access. Plus, analysts say the annual cost in tax revenue to the government is more than $100B.

Memecoins are a type of cryptocurrency—a form of digital currency with a wide variety of uses—created around popular 'memes,' or viral internet jokes.

The price of gas is a composite made up of several different factors, with the federal gas tax making up less than 20% of what drivers pay at the pump.

Radioactive elements can introduce software errors because the ionizing radiation they produce can detach electrons from atoms, and computer code relies on the distribution of electrons.

Discover the catastrophic consequences of a failure of the US electrical grid—something that is more likely than many Americans think.

Netflix profits when you're not watching, and its movies are designed that way—read a detail-rich critical essay exposing lesser-known Netflix takes

Learn how to read a prospectus, the juicy document that any company must file with the SEC before going public.

The Nasdaq's 'Magnificent 7' companies are responsible for roughly 40% of the Nasdaq 100 index's gains, while the remaining 93 companies account for the other 60%.

The US dollar is the most widely circulated currency in the world, and is involved in nearly 90% of global transactions

Famed poet TS Eliot rejected the manuscript for George Orwell's political fable 'Animal Farm,' writing that its criticism of authoritarianism was not 'the right point of view.'

As of 2025, the most cited papers in science include a review of graphene, methods to improve image recognition, streamlining electron density calculations, and optimizing protein studies.

A Yale student wrote a profound essay about the consulting industry's influence on elite college students that was published in a book of her writing after she died in a post-graduation car accident.

Watch how algorithms can be designed to train themselves and self-improve without human input, to the point where the optimized code is too complex for programmers to understand.

The rivalry between Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson centered on federalism—the question of how much power the federal government should hold relative to the states.

Art theft is the third-largest source of criminal revenues worldwide, thanks in part to the subjective nature of valuing a work of art.

See these 16 pieces of art evoking phobias of snakes, flying, spiders, and more. 

Chaos theory—informally known as the butterfly effect—is the reason why weather forecasts are presented with probabilities rather than certainties.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps is independent of Iran's regular army and is one of the most powerful and influential military-political organizations in the Middle East.

Listen to an in-depth conversation on the links between Parkinson's disease and herbicide exposure and the challenging pace of scientific investigation.

The deadliest aspect of volcanic eruptions is often not lava, but pyroclastic flows—avalanches of ash, gas, and rock that can move more than half the speed of sound.

Fireworks-related ER visits are on the rise—in 2024, they increased by 52% as compared to the prior year.

Gerrymandering works through two techniques: cracking opposing voters across districts to dilute their power, and packing them into a few to waste their votes in lopsided majorities.

A 2019 Facebook event called on attendees to "Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All of Us," resulting in countless memes, the creation of a music festival, and eventually the arrests of those who did try to approach the area.

Stanford built a Google Maps for the Roman Empire, revealing how much it cost to travel in the ancient world

About 2,000 US babies are born annually without some portion of their limbs, potentially leading to a lifetime of pricey prosthetics.

Frank Lloyd Wright's houses are historically hard to sell because they're old, subject to local landmark commissions, and often unfashionable