The positive perspective of Solana issuing mobile phones: convenience and usability could pose a serious threat to Ethereum

Most of the crypto community mocked Solana for releasing open-source software and a phone on Android. When Solana tweeted about this news in a thread, the message was fragmented and the community criticized that even a thread could disconnect. However, Ethereum developer Nathan's perspective resonated with many, emphasizing that 98% of users are regular users who seek simplicity and convenience, not decentralization or security, and certainly not low fees on high-throughput blockchains. These Solana developers know that Ethereum is facing a significant threat.

Content compiled from nathan.eth on Twitter, for more details and discussions, please refer to the original link.

Solana poses a significant and expanding threat to Ethereum. If you believe it will not succeed just because "haha, the VC chain is down again," then you are mistaken. I can explain why:

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This conclusion is drawn from years of closely following the Ethereum and Solana ecosystems, as well as conversations with over 100 developers and users. I hope the EVM public chain will prevail, but I am not blind.

Ethereum's Shortcomings

The reason I fear Solana so much is that their developers generally understand the pain points that users face when trying Ethereum for the first time, which is also Ethereum's biggest weakness.

First-time Ethereum users often encounter some entry barriers, such as:

1. Poor Wallets:

They cannot run on mobile, and barely function on desktop, leaving users confused: "What's the difference between private keys and seed phrases? Why do I have to import or switch networks?"

2. High Gas Fees on Ethereum Mainnet

3. Need to integrate with obscure cross-chain bridge protocols, extremely difficult-to-use L2s, and sidechains.

4. Most DApp users provide negative feedback on operations: "Did my transaction succeed? Am I losing money?"

I could really go on for a few more hours.

Of course, some users can tolerate Ethereum's terrible user experience, especially when they are pursuing economic benefits and start engaging with the most basic operations through a steep learning curve that they don't really need.

However, when the majority of users are satisfied with centralized applications packaged under the Ethereum protocol, you shouldn't be too surprised. Remember, 98% of users are regular users who want simplicity and convenience, not high activity or security of decentralized applications and protocols, nor do they care about the low fees of high-throughput blockchains. And these Solana developers know that.

Ethereum's Disconnect

Meanwhile, Ethereum developers often get lost in their desire for a decentralized utopia or similar concepts, becoming disconnected from their deep technical community and regular users, thus failing to build any real mass market.

Ethereum developers excel in creating things that are understandable and usable by people with similar technical knowledge, and all Ethereum protocols are not yet ready to handle nearly a billion users. I'm not saying it needs to be ready at this stage, but Solana is closer in some aspects.

In an ideal scenario, Ethereum's development culture will awaken and optimize, allowing ordinary people to interact relatively easily with the protocol. Otherwise, when Ethereum faces real mass adoption, the vast majority of "users" will be using TradFi, Web2 protocols disguised as DeFi, Web3, packaged by fraud, rather than interacting with protocols directly.

Solana Even Your Grandma Can Use

What matters is what everyday users need. Solana is a bit more down-to-earth, especially in product development:

• Is it very decentralized? Not really
• Is this a fair fundraising, tokenized project? Probably not
• But can your grandma use this product? Yes!

Not to say all Solana DApps are easy to use, but projects in this ecosystem generally have higher usability because Solana developers are more focused on usability than Ethereum developers. If you disagree but haven't had much exposure to Solana, just download the Phantom wallet and try it out.

It's terrifying; it almost makes me want to enjoy using Solana.

Just try using the Phantom wallet on some mainstream Solana DApps, compare it with using MetaMask on L2s, all EVM-compatible chains, and consider all this in the context of regular users—remember, most people can't afford mainnet fees and there are technical barriers like new networks, cross-chain, etc.

Difference Between Phantom and MetaMask

There are differences in how Phantom and MetaMask operate, and this difference is very poetic for my next point. In my view, the Solana team tends to be more focused than Ethereum, although not always, but they tend to deliver a lot of products more quickly.

Moreover, not only are they faster in shipping, but they often develop things that users truly want. They operate more like a company running projects, rather than a scattered, remote-working, problem-averse group drinking wagmi-flavored wine.

Currently, Phantom is recruiting engineers in San Francisco, where they have a large office. Meanwhile, MetaMask... has nothing. But that's not something users care about.

MetaMask is also a company, but unlike many Ethereum projects today, it's not even a DAO organization born out of Discord that can't accomplish anything. But as a chaotic, almost non-constructive remote work team, it's almost like a DAO.

I mean, look at MetaMask's frontend interface from 2016 and today; it's almost unchanged!

Meanwhile, Phantom is growing ruthlessly. Don't get me wrong, there are many things I don't like about Phantom, but all these comparisons I'm making have to do with how end-users will be attracted.

The comparison between MM/Phantom is one of many examples where Solana's team is more eager for success, adoption, and rapid delivery compared to Ethereum's team, with much of Ethereum's work exceeding Solana's, depending on the output brought by user expectations, and I find users are more inclined towards the latter.

Ethereum Never Shuts Down

Yes, this is a big problem.

But if Infura didn't intervene during the Cryptokitties crisis, Ethereum would have shut down in 2017. Decentralization is great, right?

Disclaimer: Infura, Ethereum's infrastructure service, is MetaMask's default node service provider.

So what about venture capital organizations sponsoring all Solana projects, crazy token supplies for each project, absurd token distribution for SOL, and SOL endlessly being dumped on retail investors, as mentioned above?

Yes, that's terrible, but Ethereum isn't that different.

I'm not trying to shift the focus to downplay legitimate criticisms of Solana. My core point is that while Solana is experiencing all sorts of circus-like chaos—shutdowns, centralization, venture capital scam tokens, the real issue is whether regular users really care about using Ethereum or not.

Moreover, if they value Solana's convenience and usability over Ethereum's liquidity and reliability, then who are we really building for, besides ourselves?

Both ecosystems are imperfect. Although I prefer Ethereum, what matters is the preferences of regular users. So, I'm easing up on my criticism of Solana issuing a mobile app.

Will Solana succeed? Maybe not, but they might shine brightly next and they seem to be addressing the right problems—mobile usability is very broad. Can Ethereum run on mobile? Laughable, it's impossible.

I really don't like Solana, but it's healthy to examine Ethereum closely at this time. If we give ourselves a delusion that Ethereum has no controversies but fails to serve regular users, then Solana might come out on top.