The CEO of VanEck, Jan van Eck, a leading global investment firm that has listed a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the US, has said that the cryptocurrency industry needs to pay more attention to the transaction fees.
While speaking to CoinDesk, the executive said the market was paying too much attention to Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs when it should have focused more on lowering the transaction fees payable by blockchain users.
Crypto Markets Should Focus on Lowering Transaction Fees
Van Eck noted that the transaction fees on the Bitcoin and Ethereum blockchains were unpredictable. The often high fees made it challenging for developers to create decentralized applications (DApps) on these networks.
The executive further noted that the story people should focus on right now is not the spot crypto ETFs. Instead, they should discuss Solana and layer twos, whose transaction fees have become increasingly affordable.
“The most important story of 2023, which people know, but I don’t think they focus on enough, is simply that transaction costs are now available at affordable rates through Solana or the so-called layer 2s,” Van Eck said.
The executive also said that the transaction fees charged by Bitcoin and Ethereum made it challenging for people to build their DApps on the two networks.
This was because while network fees could be low one day, they would skyrocket ten-fold the next day. The unpredictability made networks like Solana preferable.
The prices of Bitcoin and Ethereum have benefited greatly from the hype around spot crypto ETFs. After Bitcoin ETFs started listing in the US in early January, the coin rapidly rose in price to an all-time high last month.
The Ethereum community is also eagerly awaiting the approval of spot Ether ETFs. However, according to Van Eck, Ether ETFs will likely not be approved soon. The ETFs have a May deadline to gain regulatory approval.
VanEck is among the asset managers that have filed for spot Bitcoin ETFs. The executive said they had not heard anything from the US securities regulator.
For an ETF to get approved, the filing company has to meet with the SEC for disclosure documents, which has not happened.
Solana Is Superior to Bitcoin & Ethereum – VanEck CEO
The Solana blockchain has often been touted as an Ethereum killer because it offers fast speeds and low transaction fees. This year, the blockchain has witnessed a notable rise in transaction activity amid an increase in meme coin activity on the network.
Developers building on Solana can enjoy unique solutions by leveraging low and predictable transaction fees. They can also create more applications with unique use cases.
According to VanEck, blockchain networks’ utility will continue to grow. Therefore, they must focus on increasing their usefulness to attract more DApps.
Moreover, the usage of blockchain networks was changing. Developers are currently building scalable databases, which can consume much user uptime.
Such developers were looking for blockchain networks with predictable costs to avoid running user experiences.
