Welcome to the ninth Alpha newsletter. We curate alpha for you. That’s it; that’s the newsletter.
Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair CT, where we lay our sceneFrom ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
There was plenty of intense debate this weekend regarding Ethereum and Avalanche.
This Alpha update looks to provide a few opinions from both sides, as well as some useful resources regarding blockchain education and scaleability towards the end of the newsletter. Strap in.
3AC in the firing line
Alpha is aware of proceeding tweets which Zhu Su from 3AC responded to, but we want to focus on the technical debate. It’s probably fair to say Zhu kicked off the wider discussion with a strong attack on Ethereum. 🔺 = support for Avalanche.
![Twitter avatar for @zhusu](https://substackcdn.com/image/twitter_name/w_96/zhusu.jpg)
![Twitter avatar for @zhusu](https://substackcdn.com/image/twitter_name/w_96/zhusu.jpg)
![Twitter avatar for @zhusu](https://substackcdn.com/image/twitter_name/w_96/zhusu.jpg)
Cue the developer response to the VC.
![Twitter avatar for @lightclients](https://substackcdn.com/image/twitter_name/w_96/lightclients.jpg)
![Twitter avatar for @zhusu](https://substackcdn.com/image/twitter_name/w_40/zhusu.jpg)
![Twitter avatar for @lightclients](https://substackcdn.com/image/twitter_name/w_96/lightclients.jpg)
![Twitter avatar for @lightclients](https://substackcdn.com/image/twitter_name/w_96/lightclients.jpg)
![Twitter avatar for @hudsonjameson](https://substackcdn.com/image/twitter_name/w_96/hudsonjameson.jpg)
![Twitter avatar for @lightclients](https://substackcdn.com/image/twitter_name/w_40/lightclients.jpg)
The founder of Uniswap has joined the chat.
![Twitter avatar for @haydenzadams](https://substackcdn.com/image/twitter_name/w_96/haydenzadams.jpg)
![Twitter avatar for @zhusu](https://substackcdn.com/image/twitter_name/w_40/zhusu.jpg)
The founder of dYdX, one of the most successful ETH L2 dapps, cautiously agreed that Zhu had a point.
![Twitter avatar for @AntonioMJuliano](https://substackcdn.com/image/twitter_name/w_96/AntonioMJuliano.jpg)
![Twitter avatar for @zhusu](https://substackcdn.com/image/twitter_name/w_40/zhusu.jpg)
In amongst all of the debate there is probably a lesson here.
![Twitter avatar for @HaymanLiron](https://substackcdn.com/image/twitter_name/w_96/HaymanLiron.jpg)
Marc from AAVE had a different take.
![Twitter avatar for @lemiscate](https://substackcdn.com/image/twitter_name/w_96/lemiscate.jpg)
![Twitter avatar for @zhusu](https://substackcdn.com/image/twitter_name/w_40/zhusu.jpg)
![Twitter avatar for @lemiscate](https://substackcdn.com/image/twitter_name/w_96/lemiscate.jpg)
![Twitter avatar for @lemiscate](https://substackcdn.com/image/twitter_name/w_96/lemiscate.jpg)
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_600,h_314,c_fill,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8a863380-6d4b-4a74-8ddf-07535b98b748_1200x600.png)
![Twitter avatar for @lemiscate](https://substackcdn.com/image/twitter_name/w_96/lemiscate.jpg)
Zhu follows up
Zhu admitted the emotions may have affected his choice of words and looked to clarify his earlier statements.
![Twitter avatar for @zhusu](https://substackcdn.com/image/twitter_name/w_96/zhusu.jpg)
![Twitter avatar for @zhusu](https://substackcdn.com/image/twitter_name/w_40/zhusu.jpg)
Certain members of the ETH community weren’t too pleased with the “apology”.
![Twitter avatar for @FroggyFrogster](https://substackcdn.com/image/twitter_name/w_96/FroggyFrogster.jpg)
Is Avalanche the answer?
Moving onto the topic of Avalanche, there is many who are of the opinion that Avax blocks will eventually run into the same problems that ETH is suffering from right now.
![Twitter avatar for @iamDCinvestor](https://substackcdn.com/image/twitter_name/w_96/iamDCinvestor.jpg)
![Twitter avatar for @PhABCD](https://substackcdn.com/image/twitter_name/w_96/PhABCD.jpg)
![Twitter avatar for @PhABCD](https://substackcdn.com/image/twitter_name/w_40/PhABCD.jpg)
🚨 A NEW CHALLENGER HAS APPEARED 🚨
![Twitter avatar for @el33th4xor](https://substackcdn.com/image/twitter_name/w_96/el33th4xor.jpg)
![Twitter avatar for @PhABCD](https://substackcdn.com/image/twitter_name/w_40/PhABCD.jpg)
And then the team lead of Ethereum joined the fight.
![Twitter avatar for @peter_szilagyi](https://substackcdn.com/image/twitter_name/w_96/peter_szilagyi.jpg)
Avalanche’s co-founder was quick to show his respect, taking the diplomatic approach.
![Twitter avatar for @el33th4xor](https://substackcdn.com/image/twitter_name/w_96/el33th4xor.jpg)
Kevin, who helped build Avalanche, showed how you can come to your own conclusions regarding the layer 1’s decentralisation.
![Twitter avatar for @kevinsekniqi](https://substackcdn.com/image/twitter_name/w_96/kevinsekniqi.jpg)
Tim from the Ethereum team quote tweeted an earlier Zhu tweet, who showed his support for EIP 1559, having just arguably criticised it.
![Twitter avatar for @TimBeiko](https://substackcdn.com/image/twitter_name/w_96/TimBeiko.jpg)
![Twitter avatar for @zhusu](https://substackcdn.com/image/twitter_name/w_40/zhusu.jpg)
It’s important to note the respect for Avalanche’s consensus layer, but Tim questions whether they have an answer to the state related problems Ethereum is suffering from.
![Twitter avatar for @TimBeiko](https://substackcdn.com/image/twitter_name/w_96/TimBeiko.jpg)
Last take on the subject. High $ETH gas fees are net positive for everyone?
![Twitter avatar for @defitimes](https://substackcdn.com/image/twitter_name/w_96/defitimes.jpg)
Worried about the ETH price amidst all of the FUD? Well, the ETH price action tends to respond well to record breaking FUD. Refer back to the price from December 2019.
![Twitter avatar for @iamDCinvestor](https://substackcdn.com/image/twitter_name/w_96/iamDCinvestor.jpg)
Educate yourself
If you are looking for further education on the blockchain scalability. This is an essential thread from CLG.
Chris from A16z shows how demand always outpaces supply when it comes to important computing resources.
Meanwhile in Solana land:
![Twitter avatar for @gainzxbt](https://substackcdn.com/image/twitter_name/w_96/gainzxbt.jpg)
And that’s your alpha.