Bloomberg ETF Analyst Eric Balchunas Stirs Controversy After Sharing 'Misinformation' About Ethereum

Bloomberg's senior ETF analyst, Eric Balchunas, stirred controversy on social media after sharing what many Ethereum supporters called "blatant misinformation" about the blockchain.

Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas faced backlash from the Ethereum community after sharing what many supporters called “blatant misinformation” about the blockchain.

On Oct. 7, Balchunas shared a passage from the book Bitcoin: Beginner’s Guide on X (formerly Twitter), which sparked outrage before being deleted. The excerpt suggested the U.S. government could shut down Ethereum by instructing Amazon Web Services (AWS) to disable its cloud services.

The passage claimed that Ethereum is not as secure as Bitcoin because 28.4% of Ethereum nodes use AWS, according to Ethernodes data. However, this is not enough to completely disrupt the network.

The book also suggested that Ethereum’s security could be compromised if co-founder Vitalik Buterin was kidnapped and coerced into handing over Ether. Critics, including Ethereum educator Anthony Sassano, called the post “blatant misinformation” and accused Balchunas of sharing propaganda.

“This is blatant misinformation. It’s like saying the U.S. government can shut down Bitcoin by calling up MicroStrategy and telling them to turn off their nodes,” Sassano said in response.

“This is propaganda. It’s designed to make people believe that Ethereum is less secure than Bitcoin, which is not true. And it’s dangerous because it could lead people to making bad decisions about their crypto.”

Balchunas later deleted the post but not before facing heavy criticism from the Ethereum community, with figures like ConsenSys product manager Jimmy Ragosa denouncing the claims as “propaganda-ridden.”

“This is a good example of why I don’t follow mainstream crypto media anymore. It’s almost entirely propaganda-ridden,” Ragosa said.

“The section on Bitcoin was fine, but the Ethereum section was full of misinformation. It’s clear that the author didn’t do their research on Ethereum.”

Despite the backlash, Balchunas stood by the Bitcoin sections of the post, while Ethereum developers continue to highlight decentralization and solo staking to further strengthen the network’s security.

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