**SOL vs ETH: Speed vs Ecosystem Supremacy**
**Ethereum (ETH)** is the decentralized "world computer" — mature, secure, and dominant in DeFi ($50B+ TVL), NFTs, and institutional adoption. Post-Merge, it runs on energy-efficient Proof-of-Stake (PoS). Downsides? High gas fees during congestion and reliance on Layer-2s (e.g., Arbitrum) for scaling.
**Solana (SOL)** is speed incarnate: 65,000 TPS, sub-$0.01 fees, and 400ms block times. It excels in high-throughput use cases: memecoins, DePIN, and centralized exchange-like DEXs (e.g., Raydium). But it struggles with network stability (past outages) and lower decentralization (fewer validators).
**Key Trade-offs:**
- **ETH:** Security + ecosystem depth ✨ vs scalability costs.
- **SOL:** Raw speed ⚡ vs centralization risks.
**2024 Catalysts:**
- ETH: Spot ETF approval → Wall Street inflows.
- SOL: Firedancer upgrade → reliability focus.
