Prominent Ethereum community member and blockchain expert Ryan Berckmans expressed his skepticism about Solana’s potential to become a global blockchain backbone, citing five critical shortcomings.
In a detailed analysis, Berckmans argued that Solana’s client diversity, centralization, and limitations in execution strategy make it fundamentally unsuitable for such a role compared to Ethereum.
Five Key Issues Holding Solana Back
Lack of Client Diversity: Berckmans noted that Solana currently relies on a single production client, “agave rust,” and that efforts to develop a second client called “Firedancer” are facing delays. He noted that achieving true client diversity would require at least three independent, non-overlapping production clients. In comparison, Ethereum currently has four production clients that meet these standards.
High Bandwidth Requirements: Solana’s infrastructure demands very high upload speeds, with a recommended 10Gbps, which Berckmans claims introduces centralization risks. Such high bandwidth requirements limit the chain’s ability to operate in diverse and decentralized environments, a crucial factor for a global backbone.
History of Network Outages: Berckmans criticized Solana’s frequent outages, noting the network’s lack of a protocol-level fallback mechanism to continue block production in the event of an outage. A global financial infrastructure must remain operational without interruption, Berckmans said.
Economic Centralization: Berckmans noted that only about 2% of Solana’s initial coin offering (ICO) was sold publicly, with a massive 98% internal distribution. He compared this to Ethereum’s larger IPO and years of mining, which distributed ETH more widely.
Focus on Execution Scaling Over Decentralization: Solana is prioritizing L1 execution scaling, which it sees as a liability, according to Berckmans. He argued that Ethereum’s L2 consensus approach via zero-knowledge (zk) proof aggregation is a superior strategy, allowing hundreds of thousands of chains to reach consensus on Ethereum without sacrificing decentralization.
Berckmans noted that Solana’s leadership initially supported a monolithic chain model, aiming to create a fast, low-cost blockchain for global use. However, with the rise and increasing popularity of Layer 2 (L2) solutions, Solana is attempting to pivot toward a backbone strategy. Despite this shift, Berckmans believes that Solana’s current infrastructure and strategic approach are fundamentally flawed for such a role.
He noted that Ethereum’s backbone strategy, which focuses on supporting L2s and decentralized Layer 1 (L1) applications, is increasingly accepted as the optimal model. Berckmans believes that Ethereum’s scaling solutions, such as zk proof aggregation, strengthen its position as the foundation of the new global financial system.
*This is not investment advice.