Author: Chris Burniske, Placeholder Partner
Compiled by: Azuma, Odaily Planet Daily
Editor's Note: On December 30, 2022, Solana fell into its darkest hour, with SOL once dropping to $8, the lowest price since the FTX collapse. On that day, Chris Burniske, the former crypto head of Ark Invest and current Placeholder VC partner, posted a "bullish article" on X, publicly calling for long on SOL and saying he would continue to increase his position. The rest is history - SOL has since skyrocketed, recently breaking through $240 and showing a trend of setting new highs.
Fast forward to November 2024, Ethereum has gradually fallen into a trough due to narrative bottlenecks and other factors, and on November 17, Burniske once again posted a similar "bullish article" on X, publicly supporting Ethereum and predicting that the chain will revive in the next few years.
The following is the original content by Burniske, compiled by Odaily Planet Daily.
One of the reasons Placeholder has been focused on Solana during the last bear market is our belief that it will become the mainstream blockchain for the average user, as it offers advantages in terms of faster speed, lower fees, and smoother transactions. This is beginning to manifest through the MEME token craze.
But we have always been supporters of Ethereum, and that has never changed.
In the new cycle, while Ethereum may cede some of its share of the average user market to Solana (which has already happened), the Ethereum community should continue to work to solidify the network's position as the center of the Internet Financial System (IFS). The IFS will become increasingly important between 2025 - 2030, attracting more users than we currently see.
Solana and other blockchains will compete with Ethereum in the IFS space (which is already happening), but Ethereum still has a solid foundation, having existed for over a decade, with brand recognition second only to BTC, deep liquidity, and enterprises can build their own Layer 2 around Ethereum, like Base.
Although everyone knows the liquidity fragmentation issue of Layer 2 architecture (which will be solved), it is well-suited for traditional financial enterprises, as it allows them to achieve better control and directly convert profits into profits. Other blockchains like Avalanche have also been focusing on this, adopting similar subnet architectures and focusing on the IFS space.
In recent Ethereum community activities, I am excited about the discussions surrounding Ethereum.
The community is learning lessons. In the 2018-2021 bull market, in my view, the BTC community had become complacent, thinking they had achieved success and held the advantage. Around 2021, BTC was somewhat "outdated" and even mocked as a "baby boomer token", which sparked a revival, which is part of the reason BTC has risen again in this cycle.
Similarly, I believe some members of the Ethereum community have fallen into the same complacency trap from 2022 to the present, but as Ethereum is now being questioned as a laggard, many parts of the Ethereum ecosystem are about to be revitalized.
Just as BTC has experienced a revival, we may see Ethereum go through a similar revival in the coming years, driven by self-reflection forced by competition.
The evolution of mainstream blockchains is an extremely long game - anyone who thinks they have already won the war will fall into complacency and ultimately lose everything. We look forward to seeing how the power dynamics between BTC, Ethereum, and Solana will evolve by 2030 and beyond.
