'Almost Like Satoshi Knew Something': Adam Back Throws Shade at Ethereum

The Blockstream CEO believes Bitcoin's pseudonymous creator Satoshi Nakamoto's choice of the Unspent Transaction Output (UTXO) model for the BTC network reflected a deeper understanding of distributed systems and peer-to-peer network design.

"It's almost like Satoshi knew something about distributed systems," Back said in support of Bitcoin's UTXO model.

@seal_kiman @UtxoSaint It's almost like Satoshi knew something about distributed systems (or network / p2p programming) as the UTXO model is well-designed for avoiding them. .eth's were young, naive, no experience/wisdom, reimplemented around an obviously broken architecture. Tried to warn them 🤷‍♂️

— Adam Back (@adam3us) October 10, 2026

UTXO in this context is short for "Unspent Transaction Output" model, which works like physical cash, where discrete coins or outputs are spent and new ones are created, used by blockchains such as Bitcoin and Cardano.

Ethereum does not use UTXO but rather utilizes an account-based model (similar to a traditional bank ledger), where each user or smart contract has a persistent balance and state that updates directly with each transaction.

While Ethereum currently relies on accounts, ETH researchers have proposed experimental frameworks to introduce optional UTXO-style features, such as Ethereum Improvement Proposal EIP-8141, which introduces a new transaction type (0x06, or Frame Transactions) designed to achieve native account abstraction and post-quantum readiness.