Ethereum could have been something completely different, here’s how and why
The creator of the second largest cryptocurrency on the market, Vitalik Buterin, recently published an article describing how Ether could choose another development vector and become something different from what we know today.
Simpler proof-of-stake version
Ethereum network is currently on the verge of becoming a completely different project after getting rid of the “outdated” proof-of-work consensus. After the Merge update, the network will rely completely on validators, but in order to achieve a new consensus algorithm, developers spent “years of research” thanks to high standards for their vision of proof of stake.
Alternatively, developers could have used off-the-shelf alternatives such as Nakamoto PoW or NXT proof-of-stake, which had been around since 2013 and was a real candidate for replacing the existing protocol. But since the developers aimed to accomplish more than NXT could do, they had to focus on a larger set of goals.
Fewer features in the EVM
As the article suggests, the specification of the EVM was ready and viable for launch, even in 2014. But Ethereum developers explored new features, which they considered important for the decentralized application blockchain.
In the article, Buterin described features and functions that developers avoided in EVM. For example, they decided not to add the POST, ALARM and other opcodes because it would affect the processing time of a block.
The foundation could have chosen a completely distinct path for the EVM, which is copying existing virtual machines like LLVM, WASM and others. The second path was making EVM a top-tier language with its own constructs and features.
The first path was not considered as it would significantly complicate the development process, while they rejected the second path due to Ethereum’s unique constraints that will not allow for benefits from using existing solutions .
