While Ethereum's launch started 'Blockchain2', with the on-chain computational possibilities, it dropped the ball with regard to performance and cost. Whilst all the hype and pump was happening, not just with Ethereum but also all the 'cutnpaste' uncompliant ICOs, people overlooked the severe performance issues and high transactional costs. It's disappointing that with all the resources they had available, the Ethereum team didn't address these issues and are now late to the party.
Before Waves launched in 2016, the founders realised the importance of the features that Ethereum spearheaded and employed but realised that the platform would need to be able to satisfy 3 key citeria;
1: Mass uptake ready - the blockchain would need to be the fastest available and highest capacity available. Basic features like token creation and trading would need to be native to the system - enabling highest performance and lowest transactional cost. Sponsored transactions were needed so that businesses could launch a token and take care of transaction costs as part of their business model.
2: The consensus algorithm would need to be POS - and the current Leased POS was employed. A new model for Smart Contracts was needed (especially after the DAO) that promoted safe code and reasonable cost of computation.
3: The user software, API's and documentation would need to be state of the art and World class.
Initially many ideas were taken from NEXT and Ethereum to acheive these goals, but the software itself was developed using the SCALA language to provide the best balance of performance, stability and portability. All the UI elements were built out using best practices in HTML5/Node stacks.
Whilst other platforms, much newer than Ethereum or Waves gave up on basic cryptocurrency red lines, for example distributed nodes and permissionless models, Waves, like Ethereum, has stayed true to the Open, Distributed and Permissionless model which is what makes cryptocurrency so cool.
Waves is not hyped - the team prefer to just develop and build a strong community - but for anyone who hasn't heard of Waves or has, but never investigated the potential - check out the user software at
https://wavesplatform.com/. Or download the world class mobile app on Play or App store. You'll be blown away by how far Waves has come in the last two and a bit years. While you are at it - check out the quality and care of documentation and other support services.