Mike Tyson Loves Crypto, But Solana Or Ethereum?

Former professional boxer widely considered one of the greatest heavyweight boxers of all time, Mike Tyson, poured some gasoline on the Ethereum ETH/USD versus Solana SOL/USD debate.

What Happened: In a Thursday tweet, Tyson simply asked his followers "Solana or Ethereum?" — unleashing a battle among the answers to his post over which one is the superior smart contract-enabled blockchain platform.

Ethereum is the leading blockchain when it comes to hosting decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols and non-fungible token (NFT) projects while Solana is a newer but fast-growing contender. In fact, Solana recently became the sixth biggest cryptocurrency based on market cap after having tripled in about three weeks as cryptocurrency experts suggest that major players in the space, such as FTX and Jump, are recognizing its potential.

Solana, just like Ethereum, has its own smaller but booming ecosystem of decentralized applications (DApps) including DeFi protocols and NFT projects. While Ethereum has much stronger network effects on its side, users and developers are increasingly appreciating Solana's transactions costing a fraction of a cent and processing instantly where Ethereum transactions take minutes and cost upwards of $100 when the network is under stress.

Still, Ethereum has another advantage over Solana: it is expected to become deflationary in the future. Following early August's London upgrade, the Ethereum network started burning thousands of coins each day, with estimates suggesting it will become deflationary after a future upgrade to take place sometime in the first quarter of 2023.

Price Action: According to CoinmarketCap data, as of press time Thursday afternoon, Ethereum is about 1.55% down and trading at $3,457.05 while Solana is worth $192.83, down 0.46%.

Photo: Paula R. Lively via Flickr