Ethereum Price Outperforms BTC as Blockstream CEO, Adam Back Reacts to Vitalik’s Latest Proposal

Ethereum price continued to consolidate above $1,820 over the weekend, outperforming BTC over the 14-day timeframe.

Ethereum (ETH) Consolidates as Vitalik Shares Fresh Proposal

Ethereum held steady above $1,820 across the weekend, registering relative strength compared to Bitcoin, which slid below $96,000.

According to CoinGecko, ETH price posted a 14-day gain of 15.7% while Bitcoin price rally was subdued at 12% over the same period. Daily trading volumes for ETH remained elevated above $7 billion, reflecting robust market participation.

Investor sentiment appears bolstered by Vitalik Buterin’s latest technical commentary. The Ethereum founder posted on May 3 about the importance of protocol simplicity, stating, “One of the best things about Bitcoin is how simple it is… let’s bring those benefits to Ethereum.”

His suggestion alluded to streamlining Ethereum’s design, a move that may aim to address criticisms around execution layer complexity, state management, and overall maintainability.

While short on specifics, the proposal hints at a philosophical shift — one that favors reduced protocol surface area and improved auditability over maximal flexibility.

This comes amid a broader industry push for modularity, security, and composability. Ethereum’s resilience over the weekend and its outperformance signal that Buterin’s remarks may have struck a positive tone with short-term traders.

Bitcoin Maxis Mock Vitalik’s Latest Network Update

Buterin’s remarks triggered swift criticism from prominent Bitcoin maximalists. Alistair Milne quipped that Bitcoiners have been urging Vitalik to embrace simplicity “for a decade.” Adam Back, CEO of Blockstream and a legendary cypherpunk, delivered the most scathing critism.

“I literally told him so a decade ago, but they still haven’t learned about balance vs utxo or the complexity of state, “rich state fullness” mistake. Redirecting miner revenue to the insiders with PoS etc. At this point just flush it before it hits 0, and buy Bitcoin.” – Adam Back, May 4 2025.

Back blamed Ethereum’s complexity — especially the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) — for the recent ByBit wallet hack.

According to him, the EVM’s design makes it “basically impossible” for hardware wallets to verify transaction details reliably, creating exploitable vectors in real-world deployments.

From this lens, Ethereum’s initial ambition to support smart contracts without first building a minimal, robust foundation is seen as a strategic misstep.

The ensuing comments on X has further re-hased the long-standing ideological divide between Bitcoin maximalists, and Ethereum advocates over the last 24 hours.

What’s Ahead?

While Bitcoin maximalists dismiss Vitalik’s call for simplicity as a desperate pivot, Ethereum markets responded differently.

With ETH showing strength and price stability above $1,820, buyers appear to interpret the proposal as a sign of Ethereum’s maturity possibly moving toward more efficient fundamentals.

Despite criticisms from Bitcoin maxis like Adam Back, Ethereum price has evidently attracted buying more buying pressure that BTC over since Vitalik’s proposal on Saturday.

Ethereum Price Forecast Today: ETH Targets $1,950 on Vitalik’s Proposal Momentum

Ethereum price remains resilient, consolidating just below $1,830, while showing early signs of a bullish continuation. Price action is forming a subtle ascending triangle on the daily timeframe, suggesting accumulation beneath resistance.

Notably, the Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) indicator reflects positive momentum, with the MACD line holding well above the signal and zero lines. This bullish divergence, confirmed by a widening histogram, hints at increasing buying pressure despite recent profit-taking.

Ethereum price forecast today shows ETH price is holding up well-above its 50-day MA at $1,784, while the 100-day moving average near $2,176 remains the first significant ceiling.

More so, ETH trending currently trading just above the 20-day EMA, which is turning upwards. The Stochastic Slow strategy has recently issued a sell signal (-2) on the daily close, but this appears to be weakening in effect as price fails to retrace lower, indicating that bears lack conviction to press further

Within these conditions, should Ethereum price break and close above $1,880, the path toward $1,950 opens with relatively little friction, supported by declining volatility and improved sentiment after Vitalik’s latest proposal.

A failure to break higher could see ETH retest $1,783, but sustained strength above that level could keep the upside momentum active.