Famous Bitcoin analyst PlanB, known for creating the Stock-to-Flow (S2F) model, recently took a shot at Ethereum. He criticized it as the price of ETH and its market dominance have fallen sharply since the start of the year.
His main concerns? Ethereum’s switch from Proof of Work (PoW) to Proof of Stake (PoS), its early token distribution (called “pre-mining”), and what he sees as a more centralized system compared to Bitcoin.
Why Is PlanB Criticizing Ethereum Now?
PlanB brought up an old tweet from Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin, who back in 2022 criticized the S2F model, saying it gave people false hopes about Bitcoin’s future price. Now that ETH has lost a lot of value compared to BTC—hitting its lowest ETH/BTC level in nine years—PlanB is firing back.
He didn’t hold back, calling Ethereum a “shitcoin” and saying it deserves the criticism because it’s:
- Centralized
- Pre-mined
- Runs on Proof of Stake instead of Proof of Work
- Can change its supply rules at any time
He said, “I know it’s impolite to gloat and all that, but I think shitcoins like ETH, that are centralized & premined, have PoS instead of PoW, switch supply schedule at will, are harmful and deserve all the mockery they get.”
Let’s Break Down the Criticism
🔸 Proof of Stake vs. Proof of Work
Ethereum switched to PoS in 2022 during The Merge, cutting its energy use by over 99%. While this was a big win for the environment, critics like Meltem Demirors from Crucible Capital believe it was a “trillion-dollar mistake.” She argues it weakened the network and made it less innovative, especially in areas like GPU mining.
🔸 Pre-Mining Controversy
Ethereum’s early developers pre-mined around 72 million ETH—that’s about 60% of today’s total supply. In PoS systems, those with more coins have more influence. So, critics say early holders could have too much control, raising questions about decentralization.
PlanB called this out too: “Premine is really a big red flag but I guess some people just don’t care.”
But Ethereum Still Has Strong Use Cases
Not everyone agrees with PlanB. Analyst Danny Marques and others have pointed out that Ethereum is becoming even more useful in real life.
👉 In 2024, Ethereum handled more stablecoin transactions than Visa did.
- Ethereum processed nearly $14 trillion
- Visa processed around $13 trillion
👉 Over 50% of all stablecoins are built on Ethereum.
👉 Ethereum also powers 56% of all tokenized real-world assets (RWA)—including things like real estate, digital bonds, and more.
Is Bitcoin Getting Centralized Too?
Interestingly, some believe Bitcoin is becoming more centralized over time. Investor AllThingsEVM.eth pointed out that governments and big institutions are buying and storing Bitcoin.
He asked:
“What happens when nation-states like the US or China hold most of the Bitcoin and run the majority of miners? Is that still decentralized?”
He even raised the concern of large firms like BlackRock potentially influencing Bitcoin’s rules in the future.
Ethereum Is Still Evolving
Despite the criticism, Ethereum keeps improving. Vitalik Buterin recently proposed a major upgrade: replacing the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) with RISC-V. This could make smart contracts faster and more efficient—without breaking compatibility with older apps.
