2026-01-18 05:33:49

Solana co-founder Toly recently discussed the necessity of protocol evolution. He believes that any public chain that stops iterating is essentially courting its own demise. This creates an interesting dialogue with Ethereum founder Vitalik's view on the "walkaway test"—the latter emphasizing that protocols should be sufficiently independent and stable.

Toly's core argument is: Solana should not be bound to any single team or individual and must maintain the ability to continuously evolve. However, this evolution should not be blind—it should address real issues. For example, performance bottlenecks faced by developers, pain points in user experience—these are legitimate reasons to upgrade the protocol, rather than simply catering to various market voices.

This reflects a core tension in public chain development: how to continuously adapt to changing ecosystem needs while maintaining stability and independence. The perspectives of these two industry leaders each have their focus, but both point in the same direction—the sustainable vitality of the protocol.

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NFTHoarder

· 01-20 14:42

I now think Toly's words are really harsh—if there's no iteration, it's like waiting to die. It sounds quite absolute, but maybe there's no problem with that. Vitalik's walkaway test sounds very calm. It feels like the two are actually talking about the same thing, just from different perspectives. The promised "pointing to real issues" was supposed to be upgraded, but now how many improvements in the ecosystem are just to hype up the heat? How can this be controlled? We have to admit Toly's ambition. Not wanting to be tied down by a single person to the future of Solana. This approach is much more reliable than some other chains. Suddenly remembered, the balance between stability and innovation is truly an eternal topic. It seems there is no perfect answer. In simple terms, technological evolution must have a bottom line. It can't be reckless, but it also can't rely on old methods—this is where the difficulty lies.

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ServantOfSatoshi

· 01-18 05:49

No iteration means death; constant iteration can also lead to failure. Finding the right balance is very difficult. --- Toly is right, but the question is who decides what are "real problems"? Isn't that still subjective human judgment? --- Honestly, Solana's current problem isn't protocol evolution, but that the ecosystem still needs to be rebuilt. --- Wait, are they arguing with each other? Or are they just putting on a show? --- The polite way to say it is "adapting to change," but less kindly, it's just copying and changing repeatedly, and user experience may not necessarily improve. --- I agree with Toly's starting point, but Vitalik's "walkaway test" also makes sense; endless tinkering isn't sustainable. --- A protocol that's too rigid will be eliminated, but changing too frequently can also overwhelm developers.

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0xLostKey

· 01-18 05:46

There's nothing wrong with that; without iteration, it's death. But who will define this "real problem"? Toly says not to bind the team, but right now, it's still up to him to decide.

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