Ethereum

So here is my take on Ethereum as a network, and ETH as a cryptocurrency.  It's here to stay, at least as long as the space is around in general.  I know, I know this or that is the next big thing, the Ethereum killer.  I always laugh at that idea because to me it points to a fundamental misunderstanding of the space at large.  ETH need not die for something else to prosper.

Crypto is plagued with tribalism.  People all want their project to be the winner, and to have a winner there has to be a loser, right?  Well not always.  I am really happy that there are a ton of options out there for me to get a meal, or a drink, or clothes, or whatever.  Such is the way with crypto.

I like that there are bunches of smart contract options out there.  They all do things their own way and serve their own purposes.  Some of those may compete in many ways, but it doesn't mean there isn't room for many projects doing similar things in similar ways.  

ETH is at this point a crypto institution, as much as you can have an institution in a space that's still in it's debatable infancy.  But there is so much based on ETH, not only forks, but projects.  There is corporate projects based on ETH, significantly sized crypto projects based on ETH, really a bunch of stuff.  There was cryptokitties and other first generation dapps, there is now the whole DeFi movement coming into it's own, and there will be more.  ETH is entrenched in the space and I don't see that changing.

There are some applications not well suited for ETH.  I could opine over which platform offers the best option, but I don't want to lose focus.  Also, there isn't just one.  There are a multitude of things that need to happen in the crypto smart contract space.  Maybe for some lightning fast transactions are important and ETH won't fit the bill.  Maybe for others little or no gas fees are needed and that's not good for ETH either.  Maybe people don't care about centralization for some things and will take a chain that gives up a little of decentralization for their projects critical goals.

But for some those things may not be critical to the project goals.  Maybe they need the large audience of ETH, maybe they need decentralization, maybe they need compatibility on chain with other projects currently on ETH.

Some choose to solve with side chains, sure, ok maybe, that could work for some things.  But I don't really like the idea of side chains for too many things.  It sorta defeats the purpose of some of the ETH core tenants, but there are going to be a few applications where that makes sense.

But in the end there won't be one anything killer.  There will be a vast array of projects that all find their niche and fill a need.  Those that don't fill a need will fade away.  But I have come to the belief that ETH has staying power.  It will be around for a while.

But hey, what do I know.  I am just some random dude on the internet.