Charles Hoskinson, the founder of Cardano, along with other industry leaders, has come to the defense of several blockchain networks, including Tezos, Stellar, and XRPL, after Forbes published a scathing article referring to them as “crypto zombies.” The article criticized over 20 blockchain projects with a market cap of over $1 billion for lacking developers, users, applications, and real-world use.
Forbes conducted an investigation on the top 50 blockchain networks, ranking them based on factors such as monthly active developers, fees generated in the past year, total value locked, and the market cap-to-fees ratio. The article concluded that many of these projects rely solely on speculation and offer little value.
The article targeted popular projects like XRP and Cardano, which collectively have a market cap of $59.3 billion. Other projects on the list included Stellar, Stacks, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, Fantom, Algorand, Tezos, and EOS.
Hoskinson took to Twitter to dismiss the attack on his project, jokingly suggesting that they were labeled “crypto zombies” because they have all the brains. Other community leaders also defended their projects against the allegations. Panos Mekras, the founder of Anodos Finance, described the article as “nonsense and misinformation,” criticizing the author for lack of research. Bill Morgan, a pro-XRP crypto lawyer, questioned the SEC’s actions against Ripple if XRPL was truly a “zombie chain.”
Emir Yavuz from Ultra Stellar defended the Stellar network, expressing disappointment with Forbes’ article for not conducting proper research or engaging with the community. He highlighted Stellar’s recent achievements, such as tokenization and the presence of WisdomTree’s $365 million tokenized assets on the network.
While some within the crypto industry agreed with the article, others disagreed. Laura Shin, an independent journalist, praised the article as an “excellent story.”
Forbes criticized Ripple for its claims of transforming global money transfers without significant initiatives. The article also pointed out Ripple’s loss of market share to more efficient stablecoins and questioned its treasury holdings worth over $20 billion in XRP tokens.
One of the metrics Forbes used to attack these projects was the market cap-to-fees ratio. XRP, for example, earned only $583,000 in fees last year despite its $36 billion market cap, resulting in a high ratio. The article also criticized the fundraising and hoarding of funds by these projects, with Ripple holding $24 billion in XRP tokens.
Matt Hougan, the CIO of Bitwise Asset Management, summed up the situation by comparing it to early-stage venture capital funds that raise excessive amounts of money without knowing how to deploy it effectively.
In summary, the Forbes article criticizing blockchain projects as “crypto zombies” has sparked a strong reaction from industry leaders defending their projects against the allegations. While some agreed with the article’s findings, others dismissed it as misinformation. The article highlighted issues such as lack of developers, users, applications, real-world use, high market cap-to-fees ratios, and fundraising practices.