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I'm disappointed to see Cloudflare chasing this hype train rather than focusing all of its resources on its own truly valuable innovations, particularly the Wor

I'm disappointed to see Cloudflare chasing this hype train rather than focusing all of its resources on its own truly valuable innovations, particularly the Workers platform.

jgrahamc 5y ago
The nature of innovation is that you have to try things that might not pan out. Maybe web3 fizzles and dies, maybe it doesn't. But a small investment by our research arm means we can get experience with new technologies that might be years away from coming to fruition. And I often tell people that my goal is that if you hear about an Internet technology and Google it you should find that Cloudflare has already written about it and/or implemented it. That way people can trust us as a valuable source of information and to be on top of a changing world. Imagine a large customer of Cloudflare who's heard about web3. Lo and behold we've written about it, have a product offering, etc. Maybe they read all that and say "Nope, don't want web3". Doesn't matter, they still trust us to be their partner in whatever's next.
- mwcampbell 5y ago
  Touché.
fallat 5y ago
Ethereum is not just hype. You better start educating yourself.
- mikewhy 5y ago
  True, it's also accelerating the destruction of the environment, helped people make money off other people's artwork, and introduced a new generation of people to pump and dump schemes over receipts.
  - threecheese 5y ago
    Technically Ethereum is moving to proof of stake; no more miners, no more massive (well, less egregious) environmental impact. I would say that BTC is the big problem here, which is one reason why I personally don’t think it will have staying power long term. You have a point about proof of work in general though.
    - floatboth 5y ago
      And everyone who still wants to make money with mining it would just switch to Ethereum Classic or something.
      - xur17 5y ago
        Mining is a fairly efficient market over longer time periods, so net energy + hardware costs will naturally be fairly close to the value of the mined coins. Which means everyone mining Ethereum can't switch to Ethereum classic, or it would no longer be profitable for anyone.
    - JustFinishedBSG 5y ago
      Ethereum has been moving to PoS next semester every semester for the last years. Spoiler alert: it won't happen.
  - ahallock 5y ago
    And fiat has also enabled those things, to a greater degree I would argue -- what's your point?
    - yoavm 5y ago
      Fiat also enabled these things, but I can also buy bread with it and pay my school, and I believe that's how most people interact with it. The point is that cryptocurrencies are mostly used for the OP wrote above.
- JustFinishedBSG 5y ago
  Ah yes, the "few understand" defence.
base698 5y ago
Isn't that what cloudflare always does?
nikolay 5y ago
My point as well - pumping craptos is sickening.

I'm disappointed to see Cloudflare chasing this hype train rather than focusing all of its resources on its own truly valuable innovations, particularly the Workers platform.

jgrahamc 5y ago

The nature of innovation is that you have to try things that might not pan out. Maybe web3 fizzles and dies, maybe it doesn't. But a small investment by our research arm means we can get experience with new technologies that might be years away from coming to fruition. And I often tell people that my goal is that if you hear about an Internet technology and Google it you should find that Cloudflare has already written about it and/or implemented it. That way people can trust us as a valuable source of information and to be on top of a changing world. Imagine a large customer of Cloudflare who's heard about web3. Lo and behold we've written about it, have a product offering, etc. Maybe they read all that and say "Nope, don't want web3". Doesn't matter, they still trust us to be their partner in whatever's next.

mwcampbell 5y ago
Touché.

fallat 5y ago

Ethereum is not just hype. You better start educating yourself.

mikewhy 5y ago
True, it's also accelerating the destruction of the environment, helped people make money off other people's artwork, and introduced a new generation of people to pump and dump schemes over receipts.
- threecheese 5y ago
  Technically Ethereum is moving to proof of stake; no more miners, no more massive (well, less egregious) environmental impact. I would say that BTC is the big problem here, which is one reason why I personally don’t think it will have staying power long term. You have a point about proof of work in general though.
  - floatboth 5y ago
    And everyone who still wants to make money with mining it would just switch to Ethereum Classic or something.
    - xur17 5y ago
      Mining is a fairly efficient market over longer time periods, so net energy + hardware costs will naturally be fairly close to the value of the mined coins. Which means everyone mining Ethereum can't switch to Ethereum classic, or it would no longer be profitable for anyone.
  - JustFinishedBSG 5y ago
    Ethereum has been moving to PoS next semester every semester for the last years. Spoiler alert: it won't happen.
- ahallock 5y ago
  And fiat has also enabled those things, to a greater degree I would argue -- what's your point?
  - yoavm 5y ago
    Fiat also enabled these things, but I can also buy bread with it and pay my school, and I believe that's how most people interact with it. The point is that cryptocurrencies are mostly used for the OP wrote above.
JustFinishedBSG 5y ago
Ah yes, the "few understand" defence.

base698 5y ago

Isn't that what cloudflare always does?

nikolay 5y ago

My point as well - pumping craptos is sickening.