Layer-1 blockchain network Algorand has critiqued Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana in its latest ad, indicating the three are inefficient for day-to-day use. The Algorand Foundation released a new ad on May 23, titled βwhen blockchains meet the real world, only one delivers.β In the ad, three shoppers are depicted checking out at a supermarket, each attempting to pay with one of the mentioned cryptocurrencies.
Speaking to the customer trying to pay with Bitcoin, the cashier remarks that he would have to wait 27 minutes for the transaction to be executed. This is a direct reference to Bitcoinβs often long waiting times for transaction finality.
The customer paying in Ethereum was charged $112, with the cashier informing him that it was peak hours for the network, resulting in high gas fees.
Meanwhile, the Solana user, played by Algorand CTO John Woods, experiences transaction failures, referring to the networkβs past challenges with outages.
The ad concludes with entrepreneur Anthony Scaramucci, one of Algorand’s backers, asking how he could join the Algorand line. Shoppers using Algorand are shown reaching instant finality at significantly lower fees.
With the ad garnering over 740,000 views, reactions from the community were mixed. While many users appreciated the ad, some raised concerns.
One user criticized Algorand for funding a costly ad but not supporting its AlgoExplorer, which shut down in January 2024 due to a βlack of funding.β
βAlgorand runs 21 TPS, canβt fund its main explorer but drops $100k+ on an ad,β another user commented.
Crypto commentator MartyParty also criticized the advert, claiming that what was shown regarding Algorandβs efficiency was not accurate.
Meanwhile, crypto analyst fiskantes.lens commented that negative ad campaigns about competitors at this early stage in the adoption cycle were a βvery low move.β He further added that any βhigh TPS ghostchainβ could make the same claims as Algorand, but the real test comes when it faces substantial use.
Scaramucci was also called out on social media after some users pointed out his hypocrisy in a May 24 post about anticipating a Solana ETF, just hours before the ad dropped.
At the time of publication, Algorandβs native token ALGO was down 3.1% over the past 24 hours, down 95% from its all-time high of $3.56 reached in June 2019.
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