There was a period, back in the euphoria of crypto’s 2021 bull market period, when Solana was the blockchain name of the moment, spoken about as the next big thing, and with, according to its advocates, the potential even to outdo Ethereum in the race to become the foundational network of choice for web3 developers.
There were multiple reasons for this optimism, not least the fact that it had backing from VCs keen to promote its virtues. And, on balance, it should be noted that Solana does have significant characteristics in its favor. Most advantageously, it’s fast and cheap, two critical factors in attracting developers, who should in turn attract further users.
Remember that this was prior to the Ethereum Merge, a time when there were significant doubts as to whether Ethereum would ever make its long-promised transition from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake. Constant delays in the execution of Ethereum’s protocol change were beginning to foster a sense that scaling would, in turn, be delayed, and that sky-high fees and network congestion would never be resolved.
Additionally, Ethereum Layer 2s were not as prominent as they are now, and, although it was known that The Merge would not solve scaling issues on its own (such issues still exist), execution would at least indicate that development was proceeding in the right direction.
Against this backdrop, alternative Layer 1 blockchains,…
