Written by: Alertforalpha
Compilation: Vernacular Blockchain
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Ethereum holders are no strangers to the drastic market volatility. But this cycle? It feels like a roller coaster is going down.
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When Bitcoin hits a new high, Ethereum almost stagnates and even continues to bleed. There are no new fascinating stories. No explosive growth. Itâs just a slow erosion of market dominance, while faster and lower-cost competitors like Solana have stolen the limelight. Now, Vitalik Buterin has come up with a radical new proposal that could change the way Ethereum works forever. But is it too late?
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Vitalik's new bet: Replace EVM
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At the core of Ethereum is the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) - a decentralized engine that drives smart contracts on the network. It has been the cornerstone since the birth of Ethereum. But now, Vitalik suggests a thorough reform.
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In a post at the Ethereum Magicians, a gathering place for Ethereum developers, Vitalik proposed the idea of ââreplacing EVM with a new architecture called RSIV.
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Simply put:
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The existing contracts remain functionally complete.
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New contracts can be written in Rust (a modern, extremely popular programming language) and Solidity.
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Interoperability will be maintained between the old system and the new system.
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Goal? Significantly improve Ethereum's execution efficiency and solve one of its biggest expansion bottlenecks.
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Vitalik even suggested that this could be the only viable path to simplifying the bloated execution layer of Ethereumâespecially after abandoning the earlier sharding promise.
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In theory, this sounds transformative.
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In reality? RSIV may take years to come out.
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This is the real problem.
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ETH stagnates, SOL rises
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Competitors didn't stop as Ethereum discussed its next major upgrade.
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Especially SOL, it is already far ahead:
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4.9 billion transactions have been processed in the past three months, far exceeding Ethereum.
Weekly network revenue reached US$21 billion, accounting for nearly 48% of the market share.
SOL's decentralized trading platform (DEX) trading volume is now ahead of all chains.
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At the same time, Ethereum's data is not optimistic:
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The ETH/BTC ratio hit a record low.
ETH ETFs continue to lose assets, while Bitcoin ETFs attract billions of dollars.
Ethereum's market dominance fell to 7%, about 66% lower than its historical level.
Price performance? Bitcoin has risen nearly 50% over the past year, while Ethereum has fallen by 50%.
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Wall Street's choice is clear. The hottest funds in the crypto market no longer flow to Ethereum, but instead move towards Bitcoin and faster Layer 1 chains, such as SOL.
Even big players like Galaxy Digital are re-layouting: On-chain data shows they have exchanged $100 million worth of ETH for SOL.
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The cruel truth: ETH is losing its strait
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The current situation of Ethereum sounds surprisingly similar to that of the former tech giant Nokia.
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Just like Nokia in the smartphone war, Ethereum has created a world-changing platform of excellenceâŠbut when newer, faster competitors emerge, it has difficulty adapting quickly.
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The cruel reality is: Ethereum has lost its narrative in this cycle.
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In 2017, Ethereum was synonymous with ICO.
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In 2020, it is the king of NFT and DeFi.
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In 2024, the biggest trend in the crypto market is memecoins â and this happens almost entirely on SO l.
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Ethereum does not have a compelling use case to drive large-scale new user adoption. Instead, it splits into expensive Layer 2, clumsy cross-chain bridges and user experience friction.
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Is RSIV a game changer, or is it too late?
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Vitalik's RSIV proposal is ambitious. Bold and fearless. It is exactly the major thought that Ethereum needs.
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But the crypto world changes like the speed of light. The reality is that even if RSIV is flawless, it can take years to build, test and deploy.
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By then, Solana, Sui, Aptos and more may have been ahead of the pack.
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Ethereum is not hopeless yetâat least not yet. It still has about $50 billion in total locked value (TVL), still attracts loyal giant whale capital and still carries the respect of the institutions.
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But it is standing at the intersection:
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Continue to escalate slowly and cautiously - may gradually fade out of the historical stage.
Or act quickly and innovate boldly to strive to regain leadership in a rapidly changing market.
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RSIV could be the beginning of a revival.
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It may also be the first coffin nail if Ethereum acts too late.