Synthetix Founder: BSC and SOL seem to be really growing, what Ethereum needs is...

Two major exchanges have launched their own blockchains: Binance's BSC (Binance Smart Chain) and FTX's Solana. Despite their increasing popularity, they are not easily accepted by loyal Ethereum followers. While many doubt the true trading volume of BSC, purely based on data, the decentralized exchange DEX on BSC has a daily trading volume second only to Uniswap, and sometimes even surpasses it. Supported by FTX, Solana has seen the token prices of decentralized exchanges Serum and Raydium continue to rise.

Kain Warwick, the founder of the famous Ethereum protocol Synthetix, expressed his views on this "non-Ethereum frenzy" on the 28th.

Something I’m a little concerned about given the recent interactions I’ve had with the BSC and SOL communities is that they seem to be genuinely gaining organic traction. Much more so than say EOS or Tron last cycle. I have some thoughts about this…

— kain.eth (✨🔴_🔴✨) (@kaiynne) April 28, 2021

BSC and SOL Seem to Be Growing

Kain Warwick stated that he recently interacted with the BSC and SOL communities and found that they are indeed experiencing user growth. Moreover, they are much more than previous Ethereum competitor chains like EOS and TRON.

Kain Warwick believes that Solana is clearly stronger than the previous generation of Ethereum killers. This is mainly because they have effectively hidden what they sacrificed for scalability.

Many, including Vitalik, pointed out early on the possibility of EOS transitioning into a plutocracy of money and power, but evidently, the reality is even worse than what most of us, including myself, had anticipated. It is not difficult to pinpoint where they compromised on decentralization.

On the other hand, BSC seems like a natural experiment to find the answer to the question, "Do end-users really care about decentralization?" The answer seems to be that they care to some extent. Kain Warwick mentioned, "This is also a question I have been debating:

Decentralization is a developer-driven demand, not a user demand.

However, Kain Warwick noted that you will see many Ethereum projects that effectively meet developers' needs being forked and replicated on BSC. If you are EVM compatible, basically, you don't really need many developers. As there is currently a strong demand for low transaction fees from users, the market is therefore investing heavily in such blockchains.

Will Ethereum's Layer 2 Solutions Crush Competing Chains?

Ethereum's Layer 2 solutions will reduce network transaction costs and increase efficiency, which is almost what most Ethereum supporters have been expecting after seeing competing chains gain popularity, as most innovation and developers still come from Ethereum, and now it's just a matter of solving cost and efficiency issues.

Kain Warwick expressed uncertainty about such expectations.

He stated: "The real question is whether BSC or Solana can maintain effective market share in DeFi activities after multiple Ethereum scaling solutions are implemented. I would have said it's impossible before, but now I'm not sure."

Kain Warwick mentioned one major reason is the significant wealth effect currently present in BSC and SOL, which has led to massive community participation in these networks' success.

He noted that many people are financially and ideologically aligned with Ethereum, but due to the rise of Ethereum killer tokens, it has eroded people's financial loyalty to Ethereum.

He said, "Although ETH has already increased tenfold from last year to now, for many DeFi veterans, historical gains have already reached 100-200 times. But some Ethereum killers have risen even more since last year. Although we in the Ethereum community do not like to talk about token prices, ignoring this is very dangerous."

Rescuing Ethereum May Require...?

Kain Warwick stated, "I think tokens like Matic, which will launch later this year as second-layer solutions, are crucial. We need a new way to attract new market participants, show them the advantages of Ethereum, and unite a larger Ethereum ecosystem; otherwise, we will struggle to maintain market attention."

Regarding token prices, Kain Warwick believes that people can and should buy Ether. However, for many newcomers to this space, a price of $2,500 per Ether poses a significant psychological barrier.

Finally, Kain Warwick mentioned that there is no need to be overly concerned at the moment, but the current trends are developing faster than he personally anticipated. This is mainly due to Ethereum's lagging progress in scaling compared to his mid-year expectations. He stated that the Ethereum community can and will manage the progress well, but we cannot assume that everyone entering this space shares our vision of pursuing truly decentralized infrastructure.