I haven't heard about waves this year, seems that it was just passing at my busy days. However looking into that statement that it could replace ethereum, there's no possibility for now. I couldn't see a good reason for waves to replace eth, because it has no strong community as compared to ethereum. Few projects were silently associated with waves, and I think it wasn't growing or not gaining fast market demand.
maybe you could have a look to some waves properties:
-much higher scalability
-instant transactions (with lo cost)
-new dissemination of waves tech to public and private entities
-turing incomplete dApps less risky than turing complete (DAO experience), anyway waves support both categories.