EigenLayer founder debates: ETH will eventually defeat SOL

Original title: ETH vs SOL

Original source: Sreeram Kannan, founder of EigenLayer
Original translation: xiaozou, Golden Finance

Note: Who will be the final winner in the battle between ETH and SOL? EigenLayer founder Sreeram Kannan had a debate with Solana Foundation's Lily Liu at Crypto Research Day 2024 two weeks ago. Sreeram Kannan believes that ETH will win.

EigenLayer founder Sreeram Kannan published an article on October 16 summarizing the main points of his debate with Lily Liu. Golden Finance xiaozou translated this article.

ETH will win for the following reasons:

· ETH: Nested coordination + asynchronous expansion

· SOL: Fast, but the full replication model limits growth

· L2s: Seen as a weakness, but actually ETH’s hypersonic missile

· Culture: ETH value > personal gain (this is important!)

· Vision: ETH = world computer, SOL = fast version of Nasdaq

· Trade-offs: ETH builds trust, SOL iterates quickly

Don’t jump to conclusions, there’s more…

1. Core argument: ETH L2 Architecture = Nested Coordination Mechanisms

Self-enforcing (forking: only forking when the block is end-user verifiable) takes about a few days. Majoritarian (validators complete a block) takes a few minutes. Committee (Eigenlayer validator committee gives fast economic finality) takes 1 second. Authoritarian (sequencer gives instant confirmation) takes 10 seconds.

The result is Instagram-scale user experience and Bitcoin-scale self-validation!

2. ETH baseline? Trust comes from predictability.

Imagine 500 people fighting over the tiniest change. Sounds like a nightmare, right? But that's the advantage of ETH.

ETH builds long-term trust. You're sure the rules won't change overnight.

What about SOL? An organization can change the rules of the game at any time. The line between protocol and application is blurred.

3. What are the constraints of SOL? Full replication (like all other cryptocurrencies).

Every node has to download all the data System throughput <Single node bandwidth The more nodes, the greater the throughput

This is a scalability dead end.

What is ETH's answer? Danksharding.

n nodes * 10MB/s = n* 10MB/s throughputMore nodes = more throughputFor 1M validators, we are talking about theoretical TB/s. This is not a typo.

EigenDA is making this happen. Right now.

L2: ETH’s secret weapon

Instant confirmation (100ms)Borrowing security from ETH is now the best place to build most applications

4. Culture> Strategy

ETH Culture > SOL Strategy. Why? Because of shared values: censorship resistance, open innovation, trusted neutrality.

These are not just buzzwords. They are the foundation of trust.

5. ETH's Vision: World Computer

It's not just faster payments. We're talking about applications with reliable promises.

Imagine a crypto-native Facebook that promises: "We won't change our privacy policy without the consent of the majority of our users."

How? Make computations verifiable on ETH. Users can trust promises. No more "take it or leave it" ultimatums for web2. This is the power of ETH's vision of a world computer.

6. Self-Verification: ETH's North Star

Every user should verify the entire system. Sound crazy? Maybe. But this is the key to true decentralization. This constraint initially limited throughput.

Rollup cracked this code and changed the rules of the game:

Keeping self-validating throughput greatly improves users verifying proofs, not all data

7. Asynchronous vs. synchronous composability

ETH: asynchronous composability

SOL: synchronous composability

Most real-world applications require asynchronous composability. Think MMO games.

8. Asset onboarding and liquidity

SOL: one large pool

ETH: distributed on L2

SOL looks simpler. But there is a problem: single point of failure.

ETH may look more decentralized.

But it’s not. It’s resilient.

ETH = Programmable Money Across All L2s.

Long-term Resilience > Short-term Convenience.

9. Ecosystem Development: Advantages of ETH

Why do we develop EigenLayer on ETH? Simple. For predictability.

You know the rules of the game on ETH. They won’t change overnight. What about the ETH chain itself? It won’t steal your lunch either.

Sure, Solana has the advantage of speed, but there’s a problem: an organization can swallow up any brilliant idea.

Where is the line between protocol and application? I am just as confused as you.

ETH is an open playground. Develop innovation based on L2. You can sleep easy.

Your ideas are always your ideas.

The result? ETH attracts serious builders. Visionaries come together to fight a protracted war.

10. ETH vs SOL results

SOL = Sprinter

ETH = Marathoner

In the cryptocurrency space, we are playing the long game.

The future is not a choice of "speed or security", but "speed and security".

ETH + EigenLayer makes this happen.

We are not just building on ETH, we are driving its development at a fast pace.

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