An Ethereum supporter and blockchain expert, Ryan Berckmans, recently expressed doubts about Solana’s ability to become a global blockchain backbone. Berckmans outlined five key issues that he believes are holding Solana back compared to Ethereum.
Firstly, Berckmans pointed out the lack of client diversity in Solana. Currently, Solana relies on a single production client called “agave rust,” and the development of a second client, “Firedancer,” is facing delays. Berckmans argued that true client diversity would require at least three independent production clients, whereas Ethereum already has four.
Secondly, Solana’s high bandwidth requirements pose a centralization risk. Berckmans stated that Solana demands a recommended upload speed of 10Gbps, limiting its ability to operate in diverse and decentralized environments.
Another issue highlighted by Berckmans is Solana’s history of network outages. He criticized the network’s lack of a protocol-level fallback mechanism, which can lead to interruptions in block production. In Berckmans’ opinion, a global financial infrastructure should be operational without interruption.
Economic centralization is also a concern for Berckmans. He noted that only 2% of Solana’s initial coin offering (ICO) was sold publicly, with the remaining 98% distributed internally. In comparison, Ethereum had a larger initial public offering and years of mining, resulting in a wider distribution of ETH.
Lastly, Berckmans criticized Solana’s focus on execution scaling over decentralization. He argued that Ethereum’s approach of using Layer 2 (L2) consensus via zero-knowledge (zk) proof aggregation is superior, allowing for hundreds of thousands of chains to reach consensus without sacrificing decentralization.
Berckmans acknowledged that Solana initially aimed to create a fast and low-cost blockchain for global use but is now attempting to pivot towards a backbone strategy. However, he believes that Solana’s current infrastructure and strategic approach are fundamentally flawed for this role.
In contrast, Berckmans views Ethereum’s backbone strategy, which supports L2s and decentralized L1 applications, as the optimal model. He believes that Ethereum’s scaling solutions, such as zk proof aggregation, strengthen its position as the foundation of the new global financial system.
Disclaimer: This article does not provide investment advice.
