Written by: Alertforalpha Compilation: Vernacular Blockchain Ethereum holders are no strangers to the drastic market volatility. But this cycle? It feels like a roller coaster is going down. When Bitcoin hits a new high, Ethereum almost stagnates and even continues to bleed. There are no new fascinating stories. No explosive growth. It’s 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? Vitalik's new bet: Replace EVM 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. In a post at the Ethereum Magicians, a gathering place for Ethereum developers, Vitalik proposed the idea of ​​replacing EVM with a new architecture called RSIV. Simply put: The existing contracts remain functionally complete. New contracts can be written in Rust (a modern, extremely popular programming language) and Solidity. Interoperability will be maintained between the old system and the new system. Goal? Significantly improve Ethereum's execution efficiency and solve one of its biggest expansion bottlenecks. Vitalik even suggested that this could be the only viable path to simplifying the bloated execution layer of Ethereum—especially after abandoning the earlier sharding promise. In theory, this sounds transformative. In reality? RSIV may take years to come out. This is the real problem. ETH stagnates, SOL rises Competitors didn't stop as Ethereum discussed its next major upgrade. Especially SOL, it is already far ahead: 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. At the same time, Ethereum's data is not optimistic: 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%. 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. The cruel truth: ETH is losing its strait The current situation of Ethereum sounds surprisingly similar to that of the former tech giant Nokia. Just like Nokia in the smartphone war, Ethereum has created a world-changing platform of excellence…but when newer, faster competitors emerge, it has difficulty adapting quickly. The cruel reality is: Ethereum has lost its narrative in this cycle. In 2017, Ethereum was synonymous with ICO. In 2020, it is the king of NFT and DeFi. In 2024, the biggest trend in the crypto market is memecoins – and this happens almost entirely on SO l. 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. Is RSIV a game changer, or is it too late? Vitalik's RSIV proposal is ambitious. Bold and fearless. It is exactly the major thought that Ethereum needs. 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. By then, Solana, Sui, Aptos and more may have been ahead of the pack. Ethereum is not hopeless yet—at 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. But it is standing at the intersection: 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. RSIV could be the beginning of a revival. It may also be the first coffin nail if Ethereum acts too late.