If we look at BTC, ETH, and SOL on the same technological evolution line, we can actually see very clear generational differences.

The first generation is BTC, and its core goal is just one: to achieve value transfer in an extremely untrusting environment. To this end, performance was sacrificed, with an on-chain throughput of only single-digit TPS, and block creation measured in minutes, but this has resulted in extremely strong determinism and simplicity.

The second generation of ETH has taken a step forward in the security model by introducing a programmable virtual machine, upgrading the blockchain from a bookkeeping system to a universal settlement layer. TPS has increased to the hundreds, block generation has reached the second level, and PoS has changed the cost structure of security, but performance is still limited.

The third generation SOL is a typical engineering-driven approach, designed directly around high concurrency and low latency: millisecond-level confirmations and tens of thousands of TPS, constructing the chain as a real-time system to enable high-frequency interactions and complex applications.

This is not a question of who replaces whom, but an inevitable result of different design goals. BTC is more like a value anchor, ETH serves as the global settlement and contract layer, while SOL bets on the scale of future applications.