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Vitalik Buterin is no stranger to expressing his views, and now the Ethereum co-founder has taken aim at centralized cryptocurrency exchanges – quipping that he hopes to see them “burn in hell as much as possible” in a new interview with TechCrunch’ Jon Evans.
Buterin criticised centralized exchanges for their ‘King-making’ ability, and opined that such platforms dictate which cryptocurrencies ‘become big’ through exposing new blockchain projects to market liquidity, but not before charging “crazy ten to fifteen million dollar listing fees.”
Buterin offered that cryptocurrency communities should instead focus their efforts on developing ‘better’ decentralized exchanges, that would yield the “blockchain values” of “openness and transparency.”
Earlier this year, a report by Autonomous Next revealed that trade exchanges dealing in cryptocurrency may be charging extortionate rates compared with traditional exchanges – on occasion as much as ten times the amount.
The report outlined that crypto exchanges are charging $1 million USD to list a well regarded token and a massive $3 million USD for a chance for liquidity. When comparing this to the traditional equity exchanges, Autonomous Next outlined that “[they] don’t know these numbers with certainty, but suspect the order of magnitude to be roughly in line with today’s reality.”
Ironically, Buterin’s voice is joined by that of John McAfee. The controversial businessman has, in recent weeks, called for a consumer boycott of HitBTC with the view of reducing the platform’s $270 million USD daily trading volume.
The crypto exchanges have become the thing that we have originally fought against. Their power is immense. Hitbtc, for example, has increased suffering for millions of poor people who cannot afford the minimum buy-in since it is greater than their monthly income. Boycott them.
— John McAfee (@officialmcafee) June 28, 2018
At press time, Ethereum is down by -1.78% day-on-day, and presently trades for $484.47 YSD.