The Mimblewimble protocol [0] bucks that trend, providing more privacy at the base layer while being less expensive in terms of the historical size of transactions [1].
> a focus on simplicity and deep mathematical purity: a 1 MB block size, a 21 million coin limit
A supply of 50/(2^{height/210000}) coins every 10 minutes is not particularly simple or pure. One coin per second forever seems preferable, even if it takes a century to get inflation down to 1% [2].
> The protocol design must be easy to justify decades and centuries down the line; the technology and parameter choices must be a work of art.
This is where Ethereum fails miserably.
> The second ingredient is the culture of uncompromising, steadfast minimalism.
Even bitcoin is not that minimal if you consider the complexities of bitcoin script. Much of that functionality can be achieved with scriptless scripts [3].
[0] https://web.archive.org/web/20190312100102/https://www.circl...
[1] https://forum.grin.mw/t/scalability-vs-privacy-chart
[2] https://john-tromp.medium.com/a-case-for-using-soft-total-su...
[3] https://medium.com/scalar-capital/scriptless-scripts-25e18fd...