When the wall falls, everyone pushes it. Ethereum's performance in this round has made it the "Adou" in the eyes of the public, but the pessimism is not without reason. To put it simply, internal expansion plans such as Layer2 have always been unable to stand up, and external killers such as Solana have always been determined to destroy the platform. In addition, Vitalik has been selling off in the name of charitable donations every day. With internal and external troubles and the anxious situation of internal derailment, Ethereum has ushered in its most difficult time.


Although the sexy narrative of Ethereum killers has been falsified in the last round of bull market, this round of high-performance public chains such as Solana and Sui directly hit the soft spot of Ethereum EVM's "low performance". Although they no longer shout to kill Ethereum, it is undeniable that their high concurrency and special Move language security mechanisms can indeed impact Ethereum, especially they may become fertile ground for the growth of a new generation of web3 application ecology, such as DePIN and AI.


The debate between Ethereum and Solana has been the most debated topic in the current crypto market. As the two most influential L1 blockchains, they each have unique features and cater to different user groups in the crypto ecosystem.


Ethereum is often seen as the pioneer of smart contracts and has now become the preferred platform for dApps and DeFi. It enjoys first-mover advantage, and its large developer community and strong network effects make it the top L1 blockchain in terms of adoption metrics and social influence.


Solana is known for its high-speed transactions and scalability. Designed to handle tens of thousands of transactions per second, Solana is the perfect choice for high-frequency trading and real-time applications.


Ethereum has the strongest network effect of all L1 blockchains. As the first smart contract platform, Ethereum has attracted the most users, which has given rise to a large ecosystem of dApps, tools, and resources that make it easier to build and grow new projects. The more projects and developers choose to build on Ethereum, the greater the value of the network, which further attracts more users and projects, forming a positive feedback loop.


Ethereum also stands out among L1 blockchains for its strong economic security. Ethereum has over $110 billion of ETH staked across over a million validators. This huge staked value creates a strong economic incentive for validators to act honestly, as they have a significant financial stake in the security and success of the network.

Another big advantage Ethereum has over other L1 networks is its regulatory recognition. Ethereum has been recognized as a legitimate asset by regulators, which enhances its appeal to institutional investors. Notably, Ethereum ETFs have been approved. These investment vehicles provide investors with a regulated and easily accessible way to gain exposure to Ethereum without having to purchase and store the cryptocurrency directly.


Solana is designed with scalability as a core principle, allowing it to process up to 65,000 transactions per second. This high scalability is achieved through a combination of multiple innovative technologies, including Proof of History and Turbine, a block propagation protocol. PoH provides cryptographic timestamping for ordering transactions, enabling high throughput without compromising security. This scalability makes Solana an ideal choice for applications that require high transaction volumes.

Solana has low transaction latency, with transactions processed and confirmed within seconds. The network has a block time of approximately 400 milliseconds, ensuring transactions are completed quickly. Specifically, Ethereum has a block time of 12 seconds. Solana takes approximately 5 to 12 seconds to complete a transaction, while in Ethereum, it usually takes approximately 13 minutes to complete a transaction.


Although Solana is currently more centralized than Ethereum (after all, the great philanthropist Vitalik Buterin is there), it is actively working to further decentralize its network. Efforts include decentralized pre-confirmation methods and improved validator distribution. The Solana Foundation provides funding and support to help new validators join and ensure that the network is not dominated by a few large players. Solana also launched the Firedancer client, which makes Solana the only network besides Bitcoin and Ethereum to have a second independent client on the mainnet.


The main challenge facing Ethereum is scalability. Although Ethereum has been working hard to implement sharding and layer 2 solutions, it still faces high transaction fees and slow transaction times during peak usage.


Ethereum’s adoption of L2 scaling solutions also brings a new challenge – fragmentation. There are currently 64 Layer 2, 18 Layer 3, and 81 upcoming Layer 2 and Layer 3 projects entering Ethereum. Since different L2s run in isolated environments, it is difficult for dApps and users to interact seamlessly on these networks.


While Solana excels in scalability, it also faces a number of challenges, such as the possibility of timing games and the complexity of maintaining high-speed performance without sacrificing security. The network's reliance on historical proofs and its hybrid consensus mechanism has raised concerns about centralization and the risk of collusion among validators. In addition, Solana has experienced multiple network outages and performance issues, which has raised questions about its long-term stability and reliability.


Given the unique strengths of Ethereum and Solana, each platform caters to different needs and use cases, allowing them to complement each other rather than directly compete.


Ethereum’s strong network effects, security, and maturity make it an ideal choice for applications that require high trust and composability.


In contrast, Solana’s high throughput and low transaction costs are ideal for applications that require fast transaction processing and low fees.


The complementary strengths of Ethereum and Solana can lead to a diverse and powerful blockchain ecosystem.


By serving different market segments, Ethereum and Solana can enhance the overall functionality and adoption of decentralized technology, providing users with a range of options tailored to their specific needs.


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