By George Ward
The developers of the Ethereum-based node protocol, Akula, have revealed why the project is being discontinued. According to them, the decision to discard the project is due to the emergence of a direct competitor with similar features and backed by a venture capital firm.
In the wake of the emergence of a rival node platform called Reth, the developers of the Ethereum-based node have decided to do away with the project. In addition, the Akula developers allege that Reth uses similar code as their project and that they cannot compete with the Paradigm-backed network.
Akula is a highly optimized Ethereum client programmed in Rust. Ethereum clients are specially designed software applications that allow node users to read on-chain blocks and interact with most smart contract protocols.
Artem Vorotnikov, the core Ethereum developer, started building the Akula project alongside a small team of software engineers as an open-source client system in 2021. However, the network announced that Akula only discontinued the project’s development part.
As a result, the developers’ team will no longer participate in running the project. However, the code is open-source and is still available for further use.
In the announcement, the developers cited the emergence of another identical node system by a team with more funding from venture capital firms. However, they declined to name the new project.
In a Twitter post, the lead developer, Vorotnikov, admitted that the project could not favorably compete with those with access to considerable financial resources.
The Node Clients’ Rivalry
Vorotnikov revealed that the rival project is a Rust-based Ethereum client backed by the crypto venture capital firm Paradigm. The developer added that Paradigm copied and pasted its designs and features onto the Ethereum node.
The developer proved his claim by showing screenshots detailing the Paradigm CTO, Georgios Konstantopoulos, asking probing questions about Akula. Vorotnikov even inquired about the project Paradigm was working on because he assumed it might be on Akula.
Following the conversation, it dawned on the developer that Paradigm was building a similar project to Akula. As a response, Vorotnikov and his team decided to stop more work on Akula because they believed Paradigm could surpass what they had already started.
“The team sees no reason to continue with the project because it will be difficult for Akula to attract more funding after this event. There is no need to spend scarce resources to compete with Paradigm because they have more funds to complete the Ethereum client node.”
According to the developer, he is taking some time off from the Ethereum ecosystem for the foreseeable future. Meanwhile, after Akula’s statement, Paradigm’s CTO releases a statement about Reth alongside its core details.
According to him, Reth is not a copy of Akula, as Vorotnikov stated, but a carefully developed node with no code from the existing network.