Fast as lightning is not enough, what is the EVM chain really pushing for?

Original Title: Battle of the EVM Chains: Who's Winning the Giga Gas War?
Original Author: yusufxzy, Delphi_Digital Researcher
Original Translation: Dynamic Duo Deep

Editor's Note: The current focus of EVM-compatible chains (such as Sonic, MegaETH, Monad, Sei, Fuel) has shifted from decentralization and security to raw performance and ecosystem strategy. Each chain is competing in the market through differentiated paths (such as developer incentives, extreme speed, ecosystem pre-building, technical optimization, or Layer 2 innovation), but the ultimate winner must establish an advantage across comprehensive dimensions such as speed, user experience, economic model, and ecosystem maturity, rather than relying solely on throughput.

The following is the original content (rearranged for easier reading comprehension):

The blockchain space has entered a new dimension of competition. The early battle between L1 and L2 focused on decentralization, composability, and security. Now the battlefield has shifted to the raw performance track. Multiple EVM-compatible chains including Sonic, MegaETH, Fuel, Monad, and Sei are competing to break through the once-considered impossible scalability peak. But is raw performance the deciding factor? This article analyzes the strategic differences of these chains.

Sonic: Linking Developer Rewards to Ecosystem Contribution

@SonicLabs (formerly Fantom) has completed a strategic transformation, and its core innovation, the "FeeM" mechanism, allocates 90% of transaction fees generated by applications to developers, with validators receiving only 10%.

This model has proven effective—ecosystem DEX project @ShadowOnSonic

has quickly risen to the Top 4 in weekly revenue rankings. Meanwhile, Sonic's dual incentives through DeFi app interactions and token airdrops have driven TVL to a historical high of $9.62 billion.

Competitive Advantage:

• Direct economic incentives linking to developer loyalty

• High-yield-driven application ecosystem stickiness

• Early adoption to validate the effectiveness of the metric verification model

Potential Challenge:

• Decentralization is still at a nascent stage (currently around 35-40 validator nodes)

• Continued development momentum is needed to eliminate the impact of Fantom's brand history

MegaETH: The Balancing Act of Ultimate Speed and User Experience

The @megaeth_labs testnet set a performance record of one gigagas per second with a 0.1 millisecond block time, leveraging its L2 architecture to achieve this breakthrough by abandoning the consensus mechanism.

But the chain's ambition goes beyond data: it is the first to experimentally support EIP-7702, addressing a historical pain point since 2020 where users have lost over $300 million due to approval operations through innovations such as transaction batching and Gas abstraction.

In terms of community building, MegaETH, with a valuation of $2 million, completed a public sale in 10 minutes, raising $10 million, followed by an NFT fundraising round reaching a $6 million valuation, starkly in contrast to VC financing.

Competitive Advantages:

• Industry-leading testnet performance metrics

• First-mover advantage in UX innovation (EIP-7702)

• Community consensus achieved through fair token distribution

Potential Challenges:

• Dependency on the EigenDA data availability layer

• Aggressive performance targets awaiting real-world validation

Monad: Building an Ecosystem Before Going Live

Although the @monad_xyz mainnet has not yet launched, it has already built a complete infrastructure matrix: on the first day, it integrated with the Phantom wallet, attracted top DeFi protocols like Uniswap/Balancer, and integrated cross-chain solutions like LayerZero.

This "plug-and-play" strategy can be seen as a force multiplier in today's crowded blockchain space.

Competitive Advantages:

• Ready-to-use ecosystem infrastructure

• Launch-ready with high liquidity channels

Key Challenge:

• Need to transform early momentum into sustained growth

Sei: The Disruptive Challenge of Tech Prodigies

@SeiNetwork has achieved an internal scalability breakthrough through deep optimization of the consensus and storage layers, along with injecting funding into early developers. However, the current ecosystem still lacks flagship applications, struggles with user adoption and faces competition gaps, as its technical advantages have yet to translate into market influence.

Competitive Advantage:

• Proven scalability technology architecture

• Specialized grant programs for builders

Key Challenge:

• Low actual adoption rates

• Urgent need to create a phenomenon-level application

Fuel: Breaking Free from Ethereum's DA Shackles

@fuel_network's upcoming "Redacted" L2 adopts an alternative DA solution, aiming to achieve a throughput of 150,000 TPS, marking a strategic shift from Ethereum compatibility to performance prioritization. Its vision of 1-millisecond confirmations and 400,000 orders per second will redefine the performance benchmark for public chains.

Endgame Perspective: The Value War Beyond Throughput

While the market value of these tokens is still to be observed, the current L1 and L2 race has become saturated. With intense competition among chains in terms of liquidity, applications, developers, and users, valuations may show a downward trend.

As gas in the gigabyte range becomes the norm, the real winners will be those that can offer a higher value public chain, including speed advantages, incentive mechanisms, user experience, ecosystem completeness, and security guarantees among other comprehensive strengths. The gigabyte gas war is intensifying, but the ultimate key to victory is by no means limited to raw throughput.

「Original Article Link」