Ethereum: Potential and Challenges
Once leading the DeFi and NFT wave with smart contracts, the 'second brother' now faces multiple challenges:
✅ Advantage: PoS consensus mechanism reduces energy consumption, EIP-1559 deflationary mechanism has destroyed over 3 million ETH.
❌ Pain Points: No clear supply cap (current total exceeds 120 million), scarcity weaker than Bitcoin; on-chain ecosystem activity has plummeted, DeFi protocol locked value has shrunk by 70% from the 2021 peak, NFT trading volume is less than 10% of its peak; heavy losses for those trapped above $3000, breaking historical highs ($4868) still takes time.
The Ethereum on-chain ecosystem is increasingly sluggish. Once hailed as the 'noble chain,' Ethereum now sees little activity, with DeFi and NFT projects that were once vibrant now virtually non-existent, trading volume and user participation have significantly declined, and the fragmentation of the ecosystem and loss of users are currently the biggest dilemmas.