Vocal Ethereum researcher Max Resnick is on board to join Solana.
Blockchain researcher Max Resnick jumped ship from Ethereum infrastructure firm Consensus to Solana research and development firm Anza after strongly opposing key aspects of Ethereum's roadmap in recent months.
“I'm taking my talent to Solana,” Resnick said in a Dec. 9 X post after announcing that he started his first day at Anza on Dec. 9.
Resnick, who has served as head of research at Consensys subsidiary Special Mechanisms Group since February 2023, has been critical of Ethereum's scaling strategy.
For his first 100 days at Anza, Resnick said he will spend his time writing a technical brief focused on Solana's payments markets and consensus execution — two areas where he believes he can have “the greatest impact.”
Source: Max Resnick
Anza is the software company behind Solana's Agave client – which aims to improve network resiliency and other things.
Ethereum community member Ryan Berkmans recently criticized Ethereum's Layer 2 implementation approach and was happy to see Resnick go for Solana, arguing that he should instead focus his development efforts on an underlying layer like Solana.
Source: Max Resnick
“Critics like Max have repeatedly said that Ethereum should be more like Solana,” Berckmans said in a December 9 X post.
But Resnick will now work to improve customer diversity and build a stronger research community like Ethereum, Berkmans points out.
“This is ridiculous when he keeps saying that Ethereum should be like Solana.”
Speaking at the Ethereum Show Bankless on September 4, Resnick said when asked that the amount of “re-architecture” required to change Solana's consensus rules would be largely out of “control” for Solana.
Consensus refers to the mechanism by which nodes verify transactions and agree on the correct state of the blockchain.
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Others, like Ethereum and Solana co-founders, Joe Lubin and Anatoly Yakovenko, see Resnick's move as a positive for the industry, arguing that it will “cut cross-pollination” and accelerate space for everyone.
Resnick will continue to work with Consensys as a consultant as a research associate.
The Special Mechanism team and the two new hires, including Malesh Pai, will “continue to have a significant impact within Consensus, within the Ethereum community, and within blockchain research and development,” he said.
Resnick's move could bring more attention to Solana's technical roadmap, which boasts the 34th largest share of thought on Crypto X over the past 30 days, according to Kaito AI data.
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