Ethereum Losing The War For Smart Contract Dominance
Categories: US ETHERUM NEWS
Smart contracts are the key to the potential of blockchain, enabling it to become so much more than just a distributed ledger that stores financial data. Ethereum, since launching back in 2015, has rightly been considered the "King" of smart contract platforms. However, it is now under serious threat of losing that crown as new blockchain projects emerge and smart contract technology matures. Ethereum was the first blockchain platform to introduce smart contract support, enabling self-executing agreements that rely on the distributed ledger to record the terms of a transaction. With smart contracts, when predetermined criteria are met, the transaction is facilitated automatically and instantaneously, with immutable finality. Smart contract platforms such as Ethereum are widely seen as the second evolution of blockchain technology. They enable systems, processes and entire industries to live on-chain, where they can be automated and become far more streamlined than before, with no more reliance on a centralized authority to process transactions. Smart contracts remove intermediaries and make systems more efficient, with transactions processed faster and at lower cost. It's for this reason that smart contracts and blockchain have the potential to disrupt entire industries. Of course Ethereum's developers aren't standing still. The network is in the midst of a major migration, planning to move to Ethereum 2.0. This upgrade is designed to make Ethereum more scalable by moving to an alternative Proof-of-Stake consensus mechanism and introducing "Zk-Rollups", which will enable a greater number of transactions to be processed. But will it be enough for Ethereum to retain its crown? Ethereum Losing Ground He argued that Ethereum is currently fighting a war on two fronts, aiming to become both an alternative form of money, and retain its position as the number one smart contract platform. Ali says Ethereum is losing both battles, because Bitcoin is a superior money platform, and it is rapidly losing smart contract market share to a number of alternative Layer 1 blockchains. These claims have some factual basis, with recent price changes regarding ETH/BTC. Notably, on May 27, ETH broke the 0.065 support level it had been holding for more than seven months. The value of ETH has plummeted like a stone since the crypto market collapsed in early May following the Terra Luna debacle, while Bitcoin has largely held its ground. Ethereum's market dominance is now at its lowest point since March, while Bitcoin's dominance has gained 10% in the last month. The Ethereum Killers There is however good reason to believe that what critics like Ali are saying is true, as Ethereum faces some extremely promising blockchain projects that have already solved the scalability issues it continues to struggle against.These so-called "Ethereum killers" are building momentum, occupying a growing share of markets such as decentralized finance and NFTs, and doing so with faster and more energy-efficient technology that not only delivers faster and cheaper transactions but is also more environmentally-friendly. Ethereum's rivals include Solana, whose native SOL token is currently ranked as the 9th most popular cryptocurrency in terms of market capitalization. Solana relies on a Proof-of-History consensus mechanism to validate transactions and has won the backing of institutions such as JPMorgan and Bank of America, as well as the top venture capital firm Andreesen Horowitz. They like Solana because it offers blazing-fast transaction speeds and fees that equate to just a fraction of a cent.