so here's an interestng thing about solana:
most validators only exist because the solana foundation "spawned" them
each bar on the chart equals one validator, and the height shows the percentage of total stake that is coming from the foundation
the data is a bit old, but it's the best i found given i'm not a full-time solana hater
the data comes from mert's firm, helius, in august 2024, link in reply
many validators get 90-100% of their stake from the foundation. without it, they'd collapse.
last year, they calculates to 57% of ALL nodes would fail if solana foundation stopped delegating
it might be higher because they don't include hardware, devops, or egress costs, which are big for high-throughput chains (if anyone has the latest data, please share below)
solana doesn't want to highlight this, and ethereum folks haven't really looked into it
ethereum foundation is too nice to dig into it
ethereum l2s are busy competing with each other, not solana
but solana competes with ethereum, so they know ethereum's weaknesses well
who should do more digging? maybe the ethereum foundation or etherealize? or maybe the l2 teams?
regardless, ill end with this
we only see the surface of reality, perception. dig deeper, and you'll find infinite problems. politics, finance, tech, crypto—it's all the same
study mert, study active measures, study solana