Bitcoin companies begin to deploy Ethereum, but the founder of Ethereum doesn’t seem to buy it?

Following the launch of Ethereum’s Homestead this month, bitcoin businesses are beginning to explore how they can use the Ethereum platform as part of their existing products or services.

So far, several Bitcoin startups, from Bitcoin storage platform Uphold to Bitcoin mining company BTCS to Bitcoin hardware manufacturer Ledger, have announced their plans to deploy Ethereum. The participation of Coinbase has pushed this wave to a climax, and Coinbase plans to conduct an internal trial on its platform this week.

However, it remains unclear exactly how these companies will use Ethereum, which was launched in 2014 and is known for its smart contracts and ability to support decentralized applications (DAPPs), and whether they can do so in a way that aligns with the vision of the next-generation blockchain platform.

Despite these broad uses for the Ethereum platform, Bitcoin startups seem to be more concerned about the price of Ethereum’s token “ether” and want to add support for Ethereum transactions. Although they also notice the huge potential of the Ethereum platform itself, they don’t know how to define this opportunity or what the Ethereum platform means for their business.

For example,乔治•佩雷拉, executive vice president of Uphold, said his company plans to add support for Ethereum, but he said he would continue to pay attention to other developments in Ethereum, which has brought them a change of mind.

Pereira said:

Before, Ethereum was just another curiosity to me, and no one knew if it would take off. Now it has achieved many goals, which makes it have considerable potential. The first thing we can easily do is add support for Ether, including storage and redemption. Other than that, no changes in goals are planned at the moment.

Other companies in the bitcoin space have expressed the same sentiment as Pereira.

Ledger co-founder托马斯•弗朗斯said that Ledger will support Ethereum as a necessary step to adopt the technology into the wider blockchain. Ledger recently announced a partnership with Eris Industries, which will provide support for its permissioned blockchain solutions.

“The core of our business is providing developers and enterprises with ways to take advantage of secure hardware,” France said.

Other companies are seeking to provide services for people to buy and sell ether, but ethereum developers say以太币并不是用来作为一种付款方式或者是价值存储方式。

Expanding into new markets

Interviews with merchants or businesses in the Bitcoin field revealed that most companies are most concerned about developing new business areas. Their statements seem to suggest that Ethereum may be a way for some companies to seek to increase their market size, while at the same time, it also suggests that Bitcoin as a digital currency seems to be stagnant.

Jameson詹姆森•洛普, an engineer at BitGo, said experts working on bitcoin wallet security are discussing whether to develop a wallet for ethereum, but he noted that the discussion is still in the early stages.

"Our business is to help people encrypt securely. It depends on how much demand people or institutions have for maintaining the security of Ethereum," he said.

Not all merchants interested in Ethereum have a long-term plan.查尔斯•艾伦, CEO of Bitcoin mining equipment manufacturer BTCS, said that in view of the recent surge in Ethereum prices, BTCS intends to develop a custom Ethereum mining equipment as part of a pilot project.

In recent weeks, Ethereum has become one of the most volatile digital currencies, rising from $10 six months ago to a high of around $13. Allen said that with its professional experience in developing Bitcoin mining hardware, BTCS has a good advantage in developing Ethereum mining hardware.

“You can’t ignore Ethereum anymore, at this price point, it’s got a $1 billion market cap,” Allen said in a recent interview.

Given that Ethereum is about to adjust from POW to pure POS, Allen said they are also weighing whether it is still profitable to develop Ethereum mining equipment, because by then, Ethereum's transaction verification process will not require hardware equipment.

However, he said that since ethereum runs on GPUs, it gives BTCS the opportunity to resell the purchased hardware.

“For us, it’s an opportunity. You may not be able to mine Ethereum anymore, (but) if we come in now, we can still make some money,” he said.

An "unfortunate" attempt

During the interview, representatives of the Ethereum project expressed mixed feelings about the recent trends.

Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin said he对比特币行业利用该技术所采取的做法感到失望, saying that so far, most have failed to truly grasp the true meaning of the Ethereum platform.

“Some of it is really simple — we accept ether, that’s it. That’s good, but it’s unfortunate. Can’t we see anything other than the coin?”

Buterin said many companies in the industry have not digested the value proposition of the Ethereum platform, which he acknowledged may be more abstract than Bitcoin and, to some extent, poses a threat to the business model of some industries.

“A more traditional company might ask: can we accept ether? That’s not the point, okay? Smart contracts will replace you in a more automated way and at no fees,” he said.

However, Buterin said that there are still some problems in the Ethereum ecosystem, and he hopes that innovators in Bitcoin or outside of Bitcoin can help solve these problems together.

For example, he noted that the centralization of Ethereum mining pools and its relatively new wallet applications could both benefit from knowledge gained from other open source technology communities.

Wait and see

Judging from the interviews, many companies are aware of the opportunities that Ethereum brings to enterprises, even those that have taken initial steps to embrace Ethereum.

For example,安德鲁•李, CEO of bitcoin trading platform Purse, said that Purse is accepting Ether, but they are already exploring how to use Ethereum to automate certain parts of the online business process and as part of future supply chain plans.

Lee suggested that it remains to be seen whether smart contracts become a use case for Ethereum, that is, someone else may successfully replicate this functionality on the Bitcoin blockchain, as RootStock is doing and has already raised $1 million in funding.

“I think Bitcoin may not be able to help us achieve all our goals, but if we want to achieve our goals, Ethereum will be a good choice,” Lee said.

This exploration process may take some time, and as the Ethereum project matures, we can expect people in the Bitcoin space to continue to seek new ways to apply Ethereum.

Pereira added:

“On Ethereum, we’re all working together as a community to figure it out.”

Original article: http://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-startups-eye-ethereum/
By Andrew Wagner
Translator: printemps
Editor: printemps
Source (translation): Babbitt Information (http://www.8btc.com/bitcoin-startups-eye-ethereum)