Do users really care about decentralization? Industry figures clash

Ethereum’s Dankrad Feist and Helius Labs CEO Mert Mumtaz clash on X over the importance of decentralization, revealing differing views on the crypto market’s priorities.

Ethereum researcher Dankrad Feist, known for his contributions to the concept of Danksharding, sparked a heated debate on the social platform X on May 19 by stating that Ethereum “actually realizes the crypto vision.”

Yes, it looks messy, but that’s because Ethereum is building for the real world. But it’s solving ALL the necessary problems and not a tiny subset.

Feist’s post prompted a response from Mert Mumtaz, the CEO of Solana developer platform Helius Labs. Mert argued that the crypto market understands the “necessary problems” more comprehensively than a single entity can.

Mert suggested that market participants who value decentralization and censorship resistance would gravitate naturally toward Ethereum “if they think it realizes such a vision the best.” However, Feist expressed skepticism regarding the extent to which market participants actually value decentralization.

The market cannot tell you whether you are realizing the crypto vision as far as decentralization and censorship resistance are concerned. For example, banks today obviously have good PMF without being decentralized in any way.

Related: Ethereum dev’s paid EigenLayer role sparks debate on ‘conflicted incentives’

Mert countered by explaining that the market dynamics are not homogenous and, as such, “you can’t know if they’re the correct” set of problems being solved.

Feist then reinforced his belief that the market does not “value decentralization that highly,” concluding that he would “never let the market be the ultimate judge.” This concluding statement sparked Mert’s final response and the last word between the two 

The discussion follows the controversy surrounding Ethereum Foundation’s Justin Drake taking on a paid advisor role at EigenFoundation. Already a researcher at the Ethereum Foundation, Drake’s new adviser role “comes with a significant EIGEN token incentive” — suggesting a risk for “conflicted incentives” according to one commentator.