'Maximum Pain': Joe Lubin, Jimmy Song Strike $500K Crypto Bet on Ethereum's Future

The terms of a much-hyped bet have finally been settled, and, at current prices, more than $500,000 in crypto is on the line.

"It's a maximum pain kind of bet," Jimmy Song said during a session of CoinDesk Live at Consensus 2019.

The new details stem from an onstage agreement from Consensus 2018, where Lubin told Song that he would bet "Any amount of bitcoin" that ethereum's decentralized apps would have a non-trivial number of users in five years.

Song had accused Lubin of "Weaseling" out of the bet in recent weeks, including calling Lubin out on Twitter.

If ethereum is doing great four years from now, Song will pay Lubin 810.8 ETH. If the dapp economy is sputtering at that point, Lubin will send Song 69.74 BTC. For Lubin to win, Ethereum needs to have 15 unique dapps achieving 10,000 or more daily active users and 100,000 monthly active users for any six calendar months in any 12-calendar-month period up to and including May 23, 2023.

Lubin had effectively bet $598,190 based on prices at the time.

Song effectively bet $586,095 at prices at the time - but only $168,030 at today's prices.

The terms have slowly been hammered out over the last year since the bet was first spoken into existence.

At its core, the bet hinges on whether the decentralized web will come to fruition - and whether ethereum will deliver it.

"The only reason dapps exist is to raise money from gullible people or from greedy FOMO people, and that's essentially what the ethereum platform has done," Song said.