For years, the single most important problem to solve in the blockchain space was performance. Ethereum got clogged with cat NFTs and the industry responded with numerous solutions competing to make blockspace performant again.

We’ve come a long way since then:

• Bitcoin and Ethereum process at most tens of transactions per second. But newer L1s like Aptos (15,015 TPS) and Solana (10,605 TPS), or L2s like Eclipse (8,600 TPS), scale much higher.

• Bitcoin’s consensus produces a block every 10 minutes, Ethereum ~12 seconds, while Aptos (190ms) and Solana (400ms) are much faster.

Blockspace is no longer the scarce resource it once was. It is more available than ever and its commoditization is closer than many realize.

Performance still matters. It always will. But it’s no longer a differentiator, it’s table stakes.

Big, cheap and fast blocks, then what?

The world knows about crypto and traditional developers are intrigued.

Case in point: Eliza, a project bridging AI and blockchain, amassed a massive 14.6k stars on GitHub, becoming the most popular repo in the world for several months in the past year. Yet, during that time, only around 3,500 new developers joined crypto per month. While it's unclear how many were onboarded by Eliza, this contrast suggests that the conversion rate from web2 to web3 remains low.

It’s clear that developers are at our doorstep. The problem isn’t attracting them, it’s making sure they can easily walk through the door and feel compelled to stay.

Today, performance isn’t what holds developers back. Design constraints and poor developer experience do.

Building onchain today means making frustrating choices:

• You use TypeScript, Javascript or other common languages for almost everything, but now you have to work with Solidity (esoteric), Rust (hard), or an even more niche language (such as Cairo). Beyond just new languages, you’ll have to deal with new tools, frameworks, and the challenge of porting existing code.

• Then, you realize Solidity is extremely limited. It’s good at working with tokens but not good at general application logic. Let’s take a painful example. In most programming languages, developers rely on standard libraries. These libraries provide built-in functions for strings, math, hashing and everything else they need. Solidity? Forget it. No standard library. No native utilities for common tasks. No efficient way to handle data. The reality is that Solidity lacks essential tools that make development easier elsewhere.

• You want to build in a familiar way, but blockchains force you to pick between execution environments and make weird tradeoffs. Most developers don’t think in terms of VMs. They simply want to use the best languages and tools for the task at hand.

New developers arrive with fresh ideas but quickly hit a wall. Experienced crypto developers come up with new product ideas but hit a wall too. No one wants to choose between VMs. They just want to use what is familiar and what already works.

The current model forces them to adapt to constraints rather than focus on innovating and solving real problems.

Expressivity is all you need

Performance is no longer the limiting factor, it’s what developers can express.

Developers should be able to build with whatever tools they prefer, and it should all just work.

While Solidity allows developers to access basic primitives, languages like Rust allow for advanced features like procedural and declarative macros. These can greatly reduce the amount of boiler plate code developers need to implement. Furthermore,  while Solidity requires developers to manually handle storage and memory, Rust provides built-in tools that help developers handle memory more efficiently. These functions let developers express their intentions with ease. The former is just one example, add Python, TypeScript, and other languages, and you can quickly see developers gaining even more freedom. Freedom to write clear and straightforward logic, unlocking builders' creativity.

Every new computing paradigm - from the early days of software to the growth of the web, mobile, and cloud - has followed a clear pattern. Progress has always been driven by enabling expert creators to do more and lowering friction for the rest of us.

History will rhyme. Less constraints. More expressivity. More innovation. This time won’t be any different.

A follow-up piece will be out soon, exploring how Fluent’s blended execution is an effort to expand blockchain expressivity.

We appreciate the reviews from Jim (Lifi), Santiago R Santos (Inversion Capital), Yano (Blockworks), Will Villanueva (Bonkbot), Daniel Lubarov (Polygon), NoSleepJon (Hyperlane), Dankrad (Ethereum Foundation), and Wei Dai (1kx).

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