Vitalik Buterin proposes a simplified L1 concept. Has Ethereum’s “world computer” vision failed?

A friend asked me how I would evaluate Vitalik Buterin's latest proposal to simplify L1? Actually, it doesn't matter how you look at it. The current Crypto technology narrative has really reached the time to compete with Holder's "belief". If you don't believe it, I can give two versions of the evaluation at the same time: "black" and "red":

The hater version - making Ethereum as simple as Bitcoin, declares the failure of Ethereum's universal world computer strategy:

This article shows that Vitalik is finally willing to admit that Ethereum’s past obsession with “complexity” needs to be adjusted. The essence of this “slimming down” movement directly declares that Vitalik’s boast of “world computer” has become an unrealizable crypto holy grail.

Replacing EVM with RISC-V may seem like a systematic overhaul and technical upgrade, but it is actually a complete failure of the previous layer2 Rollup-Centric strategy. While Solana has attracted a large number of users with its simple architecture and purely commercial MEME tactics, Ethereum is still struggling with how to manage the interoperability of hundreds of L2s. Rather than actively optimizing the strategy, it is more like being forced to cut off one's own arm to survive.

As an old chain with the second highest consensus in the crypto world, when it cannot compete with new chains in terms of performance, and suddenly one day it takes advantage of its age and puts itself together with Bitcoin to increase its presence, it is a strategic contraction. It is hard to imagine that after 10 years of technological development, the final answer is "learn from Bitcoin to simplify". It should be noted that the conclusion of "simplifying" the chain was written into the code by Satoshi Nakamoto as early as 2009.

The next-generation general-purpose computer platform that intended to revolutionize the "Internet" and tried to move the entire Internet to the blockchain just disappeared without a trace.

Pink version - Ethereum finally simplifies things and uses a new "modular" thinking to safely carry everything:

As I have written in many of my previous articles, Vitalik's proposal essentially indicates that the current blockchain industry has transformed from a breadth competition of "one dominant player" to a deep optimization strategy of "alliances and coalitions". It means that Ethereum has finally let go of its ivory tower image where technology represents everything and has begun to truly embrace the community and move closer to the "market".

Replacing EVM with RISC-V will sound the clarion call for the infra innovation of "ZK technical narrative + modularity", allowing Ethereum to regain its second spring with a new paradigm of technical narrative.

The 100-fold performance improvement potential means that Ethereum will provide a stronger support base for the Layer2 ecosystem while maintaining security. In the past, Ethereum was limited by the large layer2 ecosystem, but the self-reliant L1 will be positioned as a "security consensus layer", allowing it to confront other layer1s head-on while avoiding being sucked blood by the young layer2 guys.

"Learning from Bitcoin" is not about giving up complexity, but paying tribute to the first principle of "security first path". At least Bitcoin has verified the feasibility of this path. Ethereum, with the support of the new modular concept, allows L1 to focus on secure settlement, while giving L2 full space for innovative applications.

This ecological structure, which seems to be laissez-faire but is actually spiritually driven, will prove to be the most efficient over time.

From a macro perspective, while high-performance layer 1 competitors such as Solana are still pursuing a single indicator to show off their skills, Ethereum has already started the layout for the next decade: not to calculate everything, but to safely carry everything. Because, after several cycles, the real public chain winners did not win in performance, but in "stability" - and the premise of stability is simplicity.

You see, Ethereum’s biggest problem right now is “split consensus.” Admittedly, there are a large number of believers who are determined to stick to the technical narrative, but the army of black fans who have already turned against it and started to curse is also growing larger and larger.

But in fact, whether Ethereum is good or bad is just a matter of perspective. The truth is that we see it because we "believe" and we destroy it because we "don't believe".