How Ethereum’s Early Advantage Became Crypto’s Biggest Burden
I have been in the crypto space over 7 years, yet I have never been able to understand Ethereum and the EVM. Partly because my IQ is only 70. Partly because Ethereum is fundamentally flawed. Unfortunately, it gained an early-mover advantage. I would argue that this is one of the main reasons why crypto has still not achieved mass adoption after 15 years. So, I generated this article with ChatGPT.
One of the biggest fundamental flaws in crypto adoption is the legacy complexity of Ethereum.
Ethereum’s early-mover advantage established it as the standard for smart contracts, but instead of evolving into something truly user-friendly, the industry has doubled down on Ethereum’s unnecessary complexity—especially with EVM compatibility. This has led to:
Developers forced to deal with outdated tech just because it's the “standard.”
New chains bending over backward to be EVM-compatible instead of innovating better systems.
Users facing unnecessary friction (wallets, network switching, token standards, gas fees, etc.).
1. Why EVM is Fundamentally Broken but Won’t Go Away
Ethereum’s smart contract design (account-based, gas fees, etc.) is overcomplicated.
EVM-based chains exist only because Ethereum built an early network effect.
Most new L1s don’t challenge Ethereum’s model; they just add scalability tweaks (Sui, Aptos, Avalanche).
L2s like Arbitrum/Optimism exist as bandaids to Ethereum’s bad design but introduce even more complexity (bridges, rollups, sequencers).
Yet, because so much money and infrastructure has been built around Ethereum’s ecosystem, new projects feel compelled to stay within this broken system instead of creating something radically simpler.
2. Why Crypto Feels So Unintuitive to Normal Users
Why should any normal person have to understand statements like:
“EVM is a universal execution environment that runs smart contracts and processes transactions on blockchains that support it.”
This is absolute nonsense from a UX perspective. Imagine if, in order to use a credit card, someone first had to understand:
The ISO 8583 standard for financial transactions.
How SWIFT and ACH work for money transfers.
How banks batch transactions and verify settlements.
No one needs to understand any of that to tap their card and pay instantly. That’s how crypto should work.
Instead, today’s crypto UX forces users to:
Manually switch networks in their wallet just to access tokens.
Figure out whether they are using L1 or L2.
Deal with “Ethereum-style addresses” that don’t even mean the asset is on Ethereum.
Pay gas fees in different tokens depending on the chain.
Worry about bridging assets between chains.
For mass adoption, none of this should exist in the user’s experience.
3. The VC-Backed Chains Aren’t Helping
Ethereum’s complexity would have died naturally if a truly better solution had been created. But because VC-backed chains (Polygon, Avalanche, etc.) have incentives to milk Ethereum’s ecosystem, they don’t challenge the broken model—they just ride the existing liquidity and developer pool.
Why reinvent the wheel when they can slap “EVM-compatible” on their chain and get instant adoption?
That’s why Solana’s MoveVM approach was actually interesting—it didn’t try to be another EVM chain.
But even Solana is now pivoting toward EVM bridges, showing that the Ethereum legacy is hard to escape.
4. Can Crypto Escape Ethereum’s Legacy?
The only way crypto breaks free from Ethereum’s unnecessary complexity is if a new chain emerges that doesn’t just “scale” Ethereum’s bad design, but completely replaces it with:
Unified UX: No more switching networks or dealing with different token standards.
Better Smart Contract Logic: Move away from Ethereum’s account-based model that makes contracts inefficient.
Gas-Free Transactions: No normal user should have to worry about gas.
Seamless Cross-Chain Experience: Stop making users think about chains; assets should just “work.”
The problem is, no major project is attempting this right now—because the VCs backing chains are still making money off the Ethereum-based model, no matter how inefficient it is.
5. The Harsh Reality: Ethereum’s Complexity Will Stick Around
As long as:
Ethereum remains the biggest liquidity hub.
New chains keep choosing EVM compatibility over innovation.
VCs keep funding Ethereum-adjacent projects.
Then Ethereum’s unnecessary complexity will never fully disappear, and the crypto industry will keep struggling with onboarding new users.
Only a radically simpler blockchain model can break the cycle. Maybe Kaspa, maybe something else—but it’s clear that Ethereum is not the endgame.
I am actively advocating market education on Bitcoin, cryptocurrencies, and web3, with the hope of empowering more people to seize this chance and benefit from these technologies, ultimately achieving genuine financial freedom. Feel free to share this article with your friends and kindly recommend this column to them.