- A crypto VC downplayed Ethereum’s scaling efforts as zero-sum.
- ETH price hit a 2-month high and could eye $2.7K-$2.8K if risk-on sentiment continues.
The recently implemented Pectra upgrade and other planned Ethereum [ETH] L1 scaling efforts may be zero-sum, according to Kyle Samani, partner at crypto VC Multicoin Capital.
In a Thursday X (formerly Twitter) post, Samani singled out Base as a key beneficiary and competitor to the Ethereum L1.
“Scaling Ethereum L1 won’t fix Ethereum. The problem is that EVM developers are overwhelmingly building on Base. The future of Ethereum is Coinbase.”
Samani downplayed Ethereum’s L1 future prospects, terming it a ‘worst product offering’ than Base.
Ethereum post-Pectra
It’s worth pointing out that Samani’s Multicoin Capital is heavily invested in Solana [SOL]. Which begs the question: Is the criticism unbiased?
According to Electric Capital’s 2024 developer count report, Base accounted for 42% of new code being written within the Ethereum ecosystem.
Base is an Ethereum L2 but is relatively faster than the L1 and ranks third on throughput after Solana and Internet Computer (ICP).
In fact, from a builder interest perspective, a 2024 a16z report ranked Base third after Ethereum and Solana.
Source: a16z
Simply put, Base moat was growing at a remarkable speed, and perhaps partly explained why some felt it was a threat to Ethereum.
But Base founder, Jesse Pollak, discredited the notion and said,
“Base is probably the largest single customer of Ethereum in the world. We get a lot of value, and we return a lot of value. And we are onboarding millions of people (and tens of thousands of developers) on-chain.”
Source: Artemis
Although Ethereum has nearly 20x more TVL (total value locked) compared to Base, the L2 has outpaced it in address activity.
Besides, Base has closed the gap on the fee, revenue, and DEX volume fronts, Artemis data showed.
That said, on the price chart, ETH blasted 38% in the past 48% and nearly tapped $2.5K for the first time since March.
It briefly eased to $2.3K at the time of writing. If the risk-on sentiment continues, ETH’s next key targets will be the $2.7K and $2.8K, which doubled as 200DMA (Daily Moving Average) and bearish order block (cyan).
Source: ETH/USDT, TradingView