Vitalik Buterin has responded to a question on X / Twitter about Ethereum's alleged weakness by laying out a laundry list of the ecosystem's recent improvements, insisting Ethereum's fundamentals are "crazy strong". Buterin focussed on lower transaction costs, the maturation of layer-2 networks and advancements around zero-knowledge tooling, long-term security and decentralisation. Despite these strong fundamentals, ETH's price performance remains relatively weak, particularly when compared to the performance of the leading 'Ethereum Killer', Solana. Ethereum co-founder, Vitalik Buterin, has explained on X / Twitter why he believes the Ethereum ecosystem is "crazy strong" right now. In response to a question from an X / Twitter user who was airing his view that the Ethereum ecosystem had weakened considerably this market cycle, Buterin set the record straight, insisting Ethereum has grown stronger over this cycle. Buterin highlighted the maturation of the ecosystem, focussing on layer-2s and noting the huge drop in transaction fees when using these networks. The Ethereum founder also emphasised the ecosystem's usability improvements and technological advancements such as more powerful ZK tooling and progress on STARKs. Ethereum has gotten stronger:* Under $0.01 txfees on L2* Two EVM L2s (@Optimism @arbitrum) now at stage 1* Cross-L2 wallet UX has improved a lot (eg. no more manually switching networks), though still a long way to go* Much more powerful and mature ZK tooling making life… pic.twitter.com/4jQGeZ3qEA— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) August 22, 2024 Related: Vitalik Buterin Predicts Imminent Breakthrough in Ethereum Layer-2 Interoperability Challenges Ethereum Fundamentals Stronger Says Buterin Buterin started his defence of the Ethereum ecosystem by pointing out transaction fees on layer 2 networks have fallen to about US$0.01 following the introduction of Blob data structures with the network's Dencun upgrade back in March. He also noted the following as signs of Ethereum's viability: Two EVM layer-2s, Optimism and Arbitrum, are now at stage one of their development and that the user experience of cross-L2 wallets has improved considerably. The development of improved zero-knowledge (ZK) tooling, enhanced second-generation privacy tools and the emergence of more powerful identity and credential ecosystems. The development progress on STARKs (Scalable Transparent Argument of Knowledge) provides clarity on the network's long-term security and decentralisation. Buterin ended his reply by ramming home his belief in the strength of Ethereum, saying: The fundamentals for Ethereum are actually crazy strong right now. Vitalik Buterin, Co-Founder of Ethereum Strong Fundamental Not Reflected in Price Action While Buterin is correct to point out that Ethereum likely has stronger fundamentals now than it has had in the past, that isn't being reflected in the price action — to the endless frustration of degens everywhere. The original questioner on X / Twitter, @Kritpo_Ozzy, was pointing out that Ethereum's price action is weak, not so much its technical fundamentals: Hey vitalik, Ethereum has weakened a lot in this cycle, layer 1 layer 2 projects in the ecosystem are almost going bankrupt, investors have already lost up to 80%, what will happen?— Kript