Why is Nansen's CEO warning the Ethereum Foundation?

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In a post on X, Alex Svanevik, CEO of blockchain analytics platform Nansen, called out his frustration with what he described as a defensive mindset that has the Ethereum community in a stranglehold, especially when people compare its KPIs with the field. 

“I love Ethereum, it got me into crypto, and I still hold ETH. But I honestly can’t stand the complacency culture that’s being championed these days,” he stated.

The Nansen CEO criticized the community’s tendency to dismiss unfavorable data, writing “Any time you bring up an area where Ethereum is falling behind, you’re met with “those metrics are fake” or “we still have TVL.”

“Ethereum needs to be paranoid,” Svanevik warned, quoting Andrew S. Grove’s famous book titled “Only the Paranoid Survive.”

Svanevik added an ominous warning to his post, stating that “If the community doesn’t get more paranoid, it’ll be irrelevant by 2030.”

Why is Nansen’s CEO warning the Ethereum Foundation?

Ethereum’s standing as the leading smart-contract platform has long been anchored in its first-mover advantage, deep liquidity, and broad developer base. However, Svanevik’s comments bring to the fore an industry discourse that questions the ability of Ethereum to sustain its lead over the long term as competing chains and Layer-2 solutions grow in scale and sophistication.

Ethereum’s rivals, from networks like Solana to low-fee chains and modular Layer-2 ecosystems, frequently claim better performance across specific on-chain metrics, fueling narratives that challengers have begun eating into Ethereum’s share of activity.

And those airing their concerns about the movement of the challengers may not be wrong, as the numbers seem to agree with them; over the past 30 days, Ethereum generated over $14.52 million in fees. Tron and Solana saw more fees in the past 30 days, raking in over $28.67 million and $18.13 million, respectively.

Ethereum saw $14.52 million in fees, while Tron and Solana raked in over $28.67 million and $18.13 million in the last 30 days. Source: Defillama

Svanevik’s warning appears to be an appeal for the Ethereum community to confront these competitive pressures candidly and build a culture that takes external threats seriously rather than dismissing them.

Svanevik calls for cultural transformation and pushback

Svanevik stated that Ethereum’s path forward requires more than technical improvements. The CEO of Nansen has been vocal about how revenue is a major indicator of growth, pointing out that it is harder to fake compared to user counts and TVL.

He said, “If I had to pick one metric to define a winning blockchain, it’s revenue. That’s what people are actually paying to use your chain.”

Some members of the crypto community agreed with Svanevik’s recent comments, with some drawing lessons from Kodak and BlackBerry, commending Svanevik for bringing the matter up.

However, others disagreed, as they believe the Ethereum Foundation has been working actively to better the ecosystem, especially with the upgrades it has carried out this year.

Liam, founder of Layer 2 Roundup, wrote, “In 2025, the EF underwent a complete leadership overhaul and announced highly ambitious initiatives such as Lean Ethereum, etc.

Curious to know where you think the ‘complacency’ is when it comes to things that are actually being done?

If you’re referring to a few random CT accounts that don’t really do anything other than post on X, then I’m not sure what you’re claiming here is at all relevant in reality.”

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