Just going to put this out here. What is taking Ethereum so long to become the chain it claims to be? Always next upgrade, next upgrade..
Currently, fees are still outrageous, transactions are backed up regularly, lower fees are useless and suggested fees hang up also to leave fast option as a regular need. L2 chains aligned to this protocol, which promise faster transactions and lower fees, still hang up while synchronizing with network. I have a Polygon transaction processing from 2 weeks ago with a sped up fee, for example. Not the first this month. Still better than Mainnet if your goal is investment or to monetize artwork with NFTs. How can an artist mint if this costs $20 in fees + any fees to buy gas tokens firstly.
I get it, Ethereum opened the door for the cryptoverse. There are a large number of apps and oracles in this space compared to other chains. Smart contracts have more use cases than just artwork. And Ethereum has an increasing percentage of operability with other chains, extensions, wallets, and exchanges. But how long can this dominance continue?
Granted, my assets are not zkEVM after recent upgrades, so I cannot comment on improvements there. Trouble is, the cost of moving all my assets again to a new protocol is somewhat redundant. I’ll experiment with building another portfolio within this protocol as time goes on. For now, it makes more sense to stay the course.
In the time spent waiting for true monetary value and transaction efficiency, there are alternative chains making great strides to match or overtake. Some are a bit buggy still [Solana has promise..], some less potent in resources and interoperability, others less user friendly [Polkadot..]; then there are chains which operate nearly flawlessly with rapid settlement and an ecosystem to back.
Cosmos [Atom] works brilliantly most of the time. DEXs, NFT marketplaces and generators, DAOs, naming services, LPs, gaming, bridges.. you name it. All fast with working fee options, few failures, hardware wallet integration, multi-chain compatibility, and fluid enough to move tokens when and where they can go. A few glitches here and there are noticeable of course, not many. It is quite impressive to see this progress in real time.
Other chains have similar abilities: Algo is consistent, Binance is a strong [albeit more centralized] competitor, Polkadot is strong, Avalanche is relatively painless, Celo is bringing access to less advantaged countries, Optimism has low Eth fees and good transaction efficiency most times, Doge has a following + speed. Noticed that Apache is involved with a few notable projects to good end.
Point is, competition is hotter than it has ever been for the crypto space. Progress is a must to maintain market share. Artists, developers, musicians, athletes, techies, corporations, and financiers will drive the industry. They require a smart alternative to federal reserve fiat currency. Waiting days to complete a $5 transfer for $20 of gas will not maintain their interest in change. The point is the empowerment of everyone within an ecosystem. Without them, there is no ecosystem.
Side note: 5G+ and quality high-speed Internet is a must for this adoption to occur. No slow connections.
