I fear for ETH future, almost all smart contract projects are using the PoS staking algorithm but only ETH PoW stands alone, this makes ETH different and one of a kind smart contract project, I think vitalik buterin will regret is decision after ETH goes PoS.
What you fear is also partly true because today there are many potential and outstanding altcoins, along with congestion and expensive gas fees on ETH, some projects are looking for alternatives on other networks. But you do not need to worry too much because ETH is still making efforts and gradually entering the transition phase of ETH. The ETH2.0 event is considered the most anticipated event of the crypto community, I find it to attract more people's attention than the bitcoin halving event. Shows that the community's interest in ETH has never cooled down and all efforts will be well rewarded with ETH2.0