There Won’t Be An Ethereum Killer Anytime Soon

The recent rise of ETH and the popularity of DeFi projects have caused a massive increase in transaction fees on the Ethereum blockchain.

However, operating in Ethereum has become a real pain, and several alternative projects are trying to establish themselves as a better option for the markets. But can any of them become the Ethereum Killer? experts are not so sure.

Weiss Crypto Ratings is Skpetical About “Wannabe ETH Killers”

Weiss Ratings is a market analysis and risk rating firm. Its crypto branch, Weiss Crypto Ratings, is dedicated exclusively to the study of digital assets based on blockchain technology. In a recent tweet, its analysts explained that despite all of the major complications, it is unlikely that an Ethereum killer will emerge, no matter how promising other blockchains are.

Some say that other L1s are “catching up to #ETH“, but we’re highly skeptical. It’s the same story from 2017 where wannabe $ETH killers sacrificed all semblance of decentralization to be cheaper and faster.

— Weiss Crypto (@WeissCrypto) April 21, 2021

L1 refers to the base blockchains, i.e., those where transactions are recorded directly on-chain. L2 scaling solutions such as Bitcoin’s Plasma or Lightning Network process transactions in a different way.

They assured that the future of these competitors could be dark. Weiss Crypto Ratings referred to 2017, a year that marked the downfall of promising projects – such as EOS and NEO – that could not regain their past glory days even in the crypto bloom of 2020 and 2021.

We all know how that ended, yet folks continue to talk about these competitors as if they hold a candle to #Ethereum. Many of them do not. The only hope for some of these alternative L1s is to become a sidechain to #ETH.

— Weiss Crypto (@WeissCrypto) April 21, 2021

Weiss Crypto Ratings has been periodically ranking the various cryptocurrency projects based on variables such as their technology, market performance, adoption level, etc. Currently, the only cryptocurrencies with an A- ranking are Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Ethereum’s closest competitor is Cardano, with a B Rating. It is followed by EOS, NEO, Polkadot, Binance Smart Chain, and Tron with a C+ rating.

However, in terms of pure technological development, Cardano and Polkadot have an “Excellent” rating, while Ethereum gets a “Good” and Bitcoin a “Fair.”

The Crypto-verse Needs an Ethereum Killer… or a Better Ethereum

It could be argued that much of the cryptocurrency renaissance may be due to Ethereum.

The dApps that kept the ecosystem alive during the 2018 downturn, the DeFis that boosted blockchain usage (and ETH prices) during 2020, and the NFTs that shape the new craze of 2021 all exist because of Ethereum’s ability to process smart contracts. Bitcoin does not have this capability, which severely limits its use.

However, Ethereum’s popularity has become its main threat. Currently, transaction fees hover around $30.5, although they reached an ATH of $38 in February 2021.

Likewise, the cost of executing smart contracts, measured in gas, also reached record highs, making the use of various platforms almost impossible. Because of this, traders began to explore new horizons, and Binance seized the moment to consolidate the leadership of its native Binance Smart Chain blockchain.

The launch of Pancake Swap, a DeFi like Uniswap but running on Binance Smart Chain, marked an important milestone in the DeFi world. It served to stoke interest in this new blockchain, a cost-effective option for those who can’t keep using Ethereum projects.

The CAKE token, as expected, rose almost parabolically, and even matched Uniswap’s TVL. All because the costs of executing smart contracts on Binance Smart Chain are incredibly cheap.

But Binance cannot rest on its laurels. Certainly, its blockchain may be fighting a good battle against Ethereum. Still, everything may change with the release of Ethereum 2.0 in the future.

And once it happens, perhaps Ethereum will become the killer of the Ethereum Killers.