Author: Chen Jian Jason

In fact, the current situation of Ethereum and SOL is very similar to that of Alibaba and Pinduoduo in 2019. Due to my work, I have experienced the painful history of Alibaba being surpassed by Pinduoduo, and I have a deep understanding of where Alibaba failed and where Pinduoduo succeeded. I will use these two famous business battles to reflect on the state of Ethereum and SOL.

As the former absolute leader in e-commerce, Alibaba's development journey included 1688 wholesale, Taobao low-end retail, Juhuasuan group buying, Tmall high-end retail, and Hema local life. The focus of the entire group's development continuously shifted upwards. The biggest turning point was when Zhang Yong proposed the concept of "new retail for consumption upgrade," leading to a high-profile strategy that downgraded the strategic importance of 1688 and Taobao, fully shifting focus to high-end retail like Tmall. At that time, we often saw news of Jack Ma inspecting beef in Argentina, sourcing king crabs in Russia, and studying salmon in Norway, indicating a complete embrace of high-end consumers.

Externally, the atmosphere internally was even more detached, with a lot of time spent on abstract and spiritual matters. Executives would sit together discussing philosophy and socio-economic issues, while middle management would write lengthy reports filled with reflections to please their leaders. The entire company’s keyword was "value," meaning that everything we did, every feature we developed, and every demand we raised had to argue "what is its value?" Half of the time in demand review meetings was spent discussing value, which was painful—really painful.

At the same time, a large amount of funding was invested in scientists who could not generate productivity in the short term, such as those in Damo Academy and PingTouGe.

You could understand that Alibaba had already moved beyond the most basic "profit-making" needs of a business, and in the eyes of the well-off executives, they were pursuing more spiritual social value.

In fact, these strategies were not wrong; companies like Google and Amazon have also gone through similar paths. If one only focuses on short-term profits, long-term technological investment and cultural development would be neglected. I also recommend watching the American TV series "Silicon Valley," which I have binge-watched twice; it’s really great.

But the mistake was that Alibaba had already lost touch with the masses, abandoning the basic market of 1 billion ordinary people, believing that its consumers would all be middle-class sipping red wine and eating steak in the future.

At this time, Pinduoduo seized a large portion of the mid-to-low-end consumer market that Alibaba had willingly given up, stating, "True consumption upgrade is not about letting people in Shanghai drink French wine, but about allowing people in small counties to use clean toilet paper." Note that this part of the market was not taken by Pinduoduo; it was given away by Alibaba. At that time, the internal network was filled with voices looking down on Pinduoduo. I once posted about why I started using Pinduoduo because it was cheap, and after buying fresh produce, I received a direct refund without fuss for rotten fruit. This post was mocked by colleagues who said, "What’s so great about trash Pinduoduo? You’re earning Alibaba’s salary but spending it on Pinduoduo; you’re a traitor."

When we bring Alibaba into Ethereum and SOL into Pinduoduo, can you see where the problem lies?

Ethereum, as the king of altcoins and the emperor of meme coins, built a huge user base through its 2017 ICO, 2019 DeFi, and 2021 NFTs. Then, the old OGs of Ethereum, who made a lot of money, looked down on SOL's various meme games, thinking, "Hmph, these are just leftovers from what I played back in the day."

Once people satisfy their basic needs for food and money, they begin to pursue more abstract spiritual matters. Thus, they started to engage in discussions about network states, immortality, privacy, ZK, and other topics that have little to do with ordinary people but allow them to sit together and philosophize.

What impressed me the most was two years ago at Devcon in Montenegro, when Vitalik and a large group of people held a Zuzalu by the lake for two weeks, which was exactly like my department head taking us to a secluded villa in the mountains of Hangzhou to discuss each person's value. It was absurd.

They have lost touch with the masses, brother.

I watched Vitalik's interview with ETHPanda last week, where he spoke in Chinese for over an hour, which was impressive. However, I was still quite disappointed afterward, as it felt like drinking a belly full of plain water—satisfying but lacking in nutrition. The topics discussed were too abstract.

The early OGs of Ethereum have reaped too many benefits and show no signs of financial thirst. In fact, if anyone expresses a desire to make money, they are looked down upon by others. This atmosphere, driven from the top down, has made the entire Ethereum ecosystem's developers very "pure." Yes, that word makes my head hurt. Every time I talk to those purists (some are genuine, while others pretend to be pure to fit in), my head aches.

If you have ever applied for a grant from the Ethereum Foundation, you should remember that the application terms clearly state, "We do not fund any projects aimed at profit."

Thus, developers in the Ethereum ecosystem are entrepreneurs, while developers in the SOL ecosystem are startup founders.

SOL, having experienced near-zero value, has a new team that lacks historical and spiritual burdens and possesses a strong desire to make money. They are still at the first level of Maslow's hierarchy, so their willingness to take action is naturally stronger, allowing them to connect with the masses.

I am not against companies growing and investing resources in abstract matters; I even believe it is necessary. Large companies like Google and Amazon have a social responsibility to lead technological and spiritual development. Just as Ethereum, a public chain worth $300 billion, must take on a leading positive role in the industry, smaller exchanges like Gate that deal with meme coins and worthless tokens face no criticism. However, Binance cannot operate this way because there are moral expectations for industry leaders.

But the problem is that you cannot abandon the lower end for the high end, nor can you forsake material for the spiritual. You cannot lose touch with the masses.

Elon Musk's rockets have nothing to do with ordinary people, but his Tesla is accessible to every consumer.

I also have great respect for those who genuinely contribute to the industry and do not wish for it to be just a big casino. I believe Ethereum, seeing the current lack of innovation and the repetitive nature of old meme coins, feels helpless. They realize that this infinite loop game is not sustainable, so they want to do something truly leading and groundbreaking. However, these initiatives cannot directly bring value in the short term, and they are stuck here.

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