The Ethereum vs Solana debate took a renewed twist in the third week of March after Solana hit crucial milestones. 

For starters, Solana’s [SOL] search interest on Google Trends surpassed Ethereum [ETH]. This indicates a spike in retail attention to SOL compared to ETH. 

Additionally, SOL flipped BNB based on market cap and climbed into the top 3 in the DeFi ranking.

Crypto influencer Anthony Pompliano recently interviewed Arthur Hayes, a serial investor, co-founder, and former CEO of BitMEX.

He asked for his thoughts on the ETH vs. SOL debate, and Hayes offered his candid opinion.

“I don’t think anything is going to be ETH.”

However, he added that Ethereum is the home of DeFi and hosts most of the first versions of dApps (decentralized applications) before they launch on other networks.

“If you think of primitives of DeFi and dApps, the first version is always on Ethereum. It’s not on Solana, AVAX, Cardano, or any other blockchains.”

However, Hayes highlighted why DeFi applications might migrate to other networks like Solana.

“Maybe there are reasons like network bloat, gas fees; then they move over to Solana or other chains.”

He added, 

“But you’re not seeing a new primitive emerge on a non-ETH chain first. If I start seeing that happen, I may have to change my mind on my maximalist position on ETH.”

Solana is great if you “missed” discounted ETH

Interestingly, Hayes confirmed that he trades most L1s but categorically highlighted Solana as a great opportunity for anyone who missed cheap ETH.

“Solana is a better version of ETH; I disagree, but that’s what they believe. It could trade to $5K-$10K in this cycle. So buying it at $140 is a great asymmetric risk profile.

Additionally, he highlighted Solana’s UX/UI as the best in the ecosystem and easy to use. Hayes believes these conditions could make Solana the best performer in this cycle.