What has happened to Ethereum? Why is this round of cycles completely unable to keep pace with Bitcoin?
Is Ethereum really showing signs of decline? Is it difficult to replicate its former glory?
Will a new round of paradigm innovation in the Crypto industry still occur within the Ethereum ecosystem?
This article will take you back to the origin of the Crypto industry - Bitcoin, to reflect on Ethereum and the entire industry, and to explore where the path for the Crypto industry to regain vitality might lie.
1. Escaping Ethereum Inertia
First of all, no one can completely deny Ethereum!
Ethereum has its value and pioneering significance; smart contracts have indeed opened a new chapter for the entire crypto industry. At least before the birth of Ethereum, most projects in the crypto industry were just poor imitations of Bitcoin. They simply modified a few parameters of the Bitcoin code to create larger block Bitcoin, faster Bitcoin, privacy-focused Bitcoin, and so on. Essentially, they were just simplistic knockoffs of Bitcoin, and the concept of altcoins basically encapsulated all Crypto projects before the birth of Ethereum.
After the birth of Ethereum, the entire Crypto industry entered a wave of imitation of Ethereum, from 2015 to the present, countless so-called public chains have emerged, such as Ethereum with larger blocks, Ethereum with faster speeds, and Ethereum with better performance (including Layer2), among others.
Moreover, the so-called ecosystems of each public chain basically copy the Ethereum model, merely replicating DeFi, GameFi, various L2s, modularization, and so on. Retail investors have become desensitized and numb to various cleverly named concepts that repeatedly harvest them, so they just don't believe anything and only play with the simplest and most straightforward meme coins. Although everyone knows they won't last long, at least they can enjoy a thrill!
Without innovation, without vitality, consensus is dispersed, and zombies run rampant; the entire industry is permeated with a sense of hopeless apocalypse!
Does the Crypto industry still have a future?
However, when you look back at Bitcoin, it is the only one that continues to stand out and repeatedly break new highs, seemingly unaffected by all of this!
We can't help but wonder if the entire industry has been trapped in the 'Ethereum inertia' for too long, to the point where we completely overlook Bitcoin!
After all, Ethereum is inspired by Bitcoin and originates from the Bitcoin community. Ethereum is a way of interpreting Bitcoin, yet the entire industry treats the Ethereum model as everything.
If we want to find the problems with Ethereum, and if we want to rediscover new opportunities for paradigm innovation, we must go back to Bitcoin, re-understand Bitcoin, and rediscover the wellspring of innovation in Bitcoin, just as it was at the beginning of Ethereum's birth!
Let's temporarily escape from Ethereum inertia and return to Bitcoin to think!
As we mentioned earlier, mechanical consensus directly affects social consensus. Ecology, applications, users, and coin prices are all manifestations of social consensus. The essence of the weakening of social consensus is due to the weakening of mechanical consensus.
Why has Ethereum's mechanical consensus weakened?
The PoS mechanism is a static fixed income model that lacks competition in computing power and energy, making it unable to form redundant costs, thus weakening mechanical consensus; the PoS mechanism lacks the ability to absorb 'negative entropy' and cannot offset the internal trend of entropy increase in the system through the input of 'computing power and energy'; the staking mechanism of PoS directly leads to the rich getting richer and class solidification. When class solidification occurs, the community lacks innovation and vitality, ultimately leading to these capabilities spilling over and contributing to other competing products.
This series of performances reflects the weakness of social consensus indicators such as Ethereum's ecology, applications, users, and coin prices! Even if we can forcibly raise coin prices to boost social consensus, the principles of physics cannot be violated.
Ethereum has indeed shown signs of decline; this round of cycles has lagged behind Bitcoin step by step, which is the most genuine result! The next round of cycles will undoubtedly widen the gap even further!
If Ethereum is like this, other public chains that imitate Ethereum are bound to also face decline! The Crypto industry has reached this point, truly it can be said, success is due to Ethereum, failure is also due to Ethereum! This may be something any industry goes through during its development.
Ethereum finally managed to get an ETF, but everyone rushed to BTC, coupled with the lurking threat of Solana.
Although we currently do not see sufficient reasons for it to rise, what can be expected in the future is the opening of staking for the second contract ETF. Although the yield is not high, it is still a significant temptation for big finance. Moreover, as the yield of old US bonds continues to decline, the staking of the second contract will become increasingly appealing. Additionally, we are waiting for the return of capital to Ethereum, and for its rebound, but these are all matters for the future. The main upward wave is likely to occur in the later stages. For those currently holding it, waiting is a form of torment. As for what to do now, we don't need to be overly fixated on it; at least, there are still many options that are better than it in this round.
The wind has really changed! The current crypto market is completely different from the past. No matter how strong a value coin is, if it lacks buying support, it will fall once it goes online; while meme coins, regardless of whether they have a community, casually start at a market value of 500 million or 1 billion, which is a true reflection of the new market cycle! Especially those leading tracks that attract global attention and have clear narratives, it is not surprising for them to directly soar to a market value of 1 billion or even higher.
When the next wave of opportunities arrives, seizing the leading tracks is the correct posture!
1. MEME Coin Sectors: DOGE, SHIB, PEPE, FLOKI, DOGE, BONK
2. AI Sectors: AGIX, WLD, FET, AI, NMR
3. Public Chain Sectors: ETH, BNB, SOL, MATIC, FTM, ADA, AVAX, DOT, ATOM
4. Layer2 Sectors: OP, ARB, METIS, IMX, MANTA, EGLD, MNT
5. 2024 Halving Sectors: BCH, BSV, ZEC, ZEN, BTG
6. GameFi Sectors: SAND, MANA, GALA, ENJ, RON, PIXEL, ACE, ILV, MAGIC
7. Oracle Sectors: TRB, LINK, API3, TRB, BAND
8. Payment Concept Sectors: MOB, ACH, XLM, CELO
9. Inscription Sectors: ORDI, SATS, RATS
10. Storage Sectors: AR, FIL, STORJ, BLZ
11. DeFi Sectors: AAVE, COMP, RDNT, CRV*, MKR, AVAX, DYDX
12. NFT Sectors: BLUR, X2Y2, LOOKS, DEGO
13. Modular Sectors: TIA, MANTA, DYM, ALT,
14. Sports Sectors: CHZ, SANTOS, POR, CITY, OG
