Ether staking withdrawal schedule removal faces harsh criticism

Days after Ethereum turns deflationary for the first time since shifting to proof-of-stake (PoS), critics have started to highlight the Ethereum Foundation’s removal of Ether (ETH) staking’s withdrawal schedule on social media. 

A crypto community member pointed out how Ethereum developers, leaders and influencers mentioned that ETH staking withdrawals might be opened six months after the Merge. After this, the estimated time for the unlock was moved to 6-12 months. Furthermore, the Twitter user highlighted that the schedule was revised into an estimated 2023 to 2024 before finally being removed entirely.

Another Twitter user fanned the flames, describing staked ETH as a non-redeemable crypto investment. The user highlighted that users invested based on a timeline and were given no due date. Others mirrored the sentiment by sharing retweets of the initial post that criticized the withdrawal timeframe.

On the other hand, Ethereum supporters gave their own responses to the criticisms. Anthony Sassano, the co-founder of Ethereum resource site ETHhub, came to the network’s defense by brushing off the criticisms as attempts of Bitcoin (BTC) maximalists to find other things to attack in Ethereum after being proven wrong by the Merge. Ethereum developer Antiprosynth also highlighted in a tweet that these criticisms are coming at a time when Ether's market dominance grows and Bitcoin's dominance goes down.

Related: Ethereum sees first consecutive week of deflationary issuance

Meanwhile, a recent FTX exploit made the attacker the 35th largest holder of ETH. One day after the distressed FTX exchange filed for bankruptcy, wallets in the exchange were compromised, losing over $600 million in crypto assets. A large portion of the hacked tokens was converted into 228,523 ETH, which is worth around $280 million at the time of writing.

In other news, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin called out FTX for doing what he described as "compliance virtue signaling," comparing the embattled exchange to Mt. Gox and Luna, which were sketchy from the start, according to Buterin. The Ethereum co-founder highlighted that this type of fraud hurts more than the other.