Key Takeaways
- Ethereum Foundation researcher Toni Wahrstätter proposed native UTXOs that could cut permanent state use by 99.8%.
- Charles Hoskinson said the proposal copies Cardano’s decade-old EUTXO model without credit.
- The proposal remains in research phase, with no formal Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) filed yet.
A New Ethereum Proposal Reignites an Old Feud
Ethereum Foundation researcher Toni Wahrstätter published a proposal introducing native unspent transaction outputs (UTXOs) as one-shot payment objects on Ethereum, meaning the objects would exist only temporarily rather than creating permanent account records. Wahrstätter wrote that the model could reduce permanent state use by roughly 99.8% for payment workloads that do not require persistent state, a significant efficiency gain for a network that has struggled with long-term state bloat.
The proposal builds on Ethereum’s upcoming Frame Transactions standard, EIP-8141, and aligns with co-founder Vitalik Buterin’s Lean Ethereum roadmap, an initiative aimed at simplifying the network’s architecture and slowing state growth. The proposal remains in the research phase, and no formal Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) has been filed.
Hoskinson responded quickly, arguing that the concept mirrors work Cardano has spent roughly a decade developing. He also noted earlier this month:
It’s literally a crime in the Ethereum inner circles to mention Cardano. EUTXO is the biggest innovation of the smart contract world and Ethereum cannot mention it as they literally try to copy it.
Cardano’s Extended UTXO model extends Bitcoin’s original UTXO transaction structure to support smart contracts, an approach Hoskinson has long argued offers more predictable transaction execution than Ethereum’s account-based model. He said Cardano’s team published a paper called “Chimeric Ledgers” explaining how to run UTXO-based and account-based systems in parallel, work he says predates Ethereum’s current proposal by years.
Hoskinson argued that deterministic transaction behavior, transactions that execute the same way regardless of network conditions, remains one of Cardano’s strongest competitive advantages. He said predictable execution reduces unexpected failures, minimizes network congestion, and creates a more secure foundation for decentralized finance (DeFi) applications.
Part of a Broader Pattern This Month
Hoskinson has repeatedly criticized Ethereum’s architecture and governance throughout July, arguing that Ethereum lacks an onchain treasury capable of sustainably funding long-term development. He has also used recent public appearances to defend Cardano’s slower, research-driven development philosophy against critics who argue the network has moved too cautiously since its 2017 launch.
Hoskinson maintains that Cardano’s real competitive edge lies less in any single feature and more in its overall engineering philosophy, arguing that competitors may copy individual technical ideas but cannot easily replicate Cardano’s research-first culture.
In any case, the technical disagreement carries real stakes for both ecosystems because if Ethereum successfully implements a native UTXO model (meaningfully cutting its state growth), the network would address one of the its longest-running scaling criticisms while potentially undercutting one of Cardano’s key differentiators. Ethereum developers have not directly responded to Hoskinson’s copying allegation, and Wahrstätter’s proposal has not credited Cardano’s EUTXO work in its public documentation.
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