There are 124 L1 blockchains on Coingecko. Do you know how many are actually being used? I am active on around 10 L1s (and some L2s), but most of my assets are on Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana.
A little confession: I thought Ethereum had won the L1 game during the bear market because 1) the number of L2s was growing, offering hope for Ethereum’s scalability issues, and 2) activity on other L1s had died down while Bitcoin didn’t have Ordinals/Runes yet.
I was wrong! Solana not only outperformed most L1s but also the price of ETH is still lagging behind BTC.
I agree with Arthur’s view that the current crypto cycle is different from 2021 because the differences in returns are significant. Since the low point on October 23, few cryptocurrencies have outperformed Bitcoin.
Unlike the indiscriminate boom of 2021, the current market rewards careful token selection and proactive investment management. Broadly speaking, this shift towards fundamentals reduces the possibility of getting rich quick by luck, ultimately enhancing market maturity.
This means you should do your research and seek growth catalysts. Start by:
1) Identifying industries/narratives that you expect to surpass the market in the future,
2) Then, examine the fundamentals to identify potential tokens.
Was I talking about fundamentals when meme coins were all the rage? Memecoins rely too much on hype, influencer promotion, and behind-the-scenes deals. You can trade meme coins based on “fundamentals,” but if you don’t have a strategy and enjoy gambling, go ahead.
Personally, I find exposure to L1 tokens appealing because L1 tokens are usually productive assets: you can stake them natively or through liquidity staking, use them in the DeFi ecosystem, and receive airdrops from ecosystem dApps.
In contrast, L2 tokens are mostly useless as they neither serve as gas nor provide ecosystem airdrops (I think only STRK, MNT, and METIS have decent token utility).
The key is to identify thriving L1 ecosystems, including technological innovation, compelling narratives, and an increasing number of dApp airdrops contributing to the rise in L1 token prices.
Airdrops are essentially tokens generated out of thin air; however, these new tokens can boost L1 prices as degens sell the airdrops for native L1 tokens.
Easier said than done! With 124 L1s, how do you start and narrow down your choices?
Allow me to share my thought process and focus on some L1 ecosystems that caught my attention for various reasons (possibly including TVL/users), and I believe they have some potential for prosperity.
1) TON
Firstly, TON is the 9th largest crypto project by market capitalization, so it may not grow 10 times.
Additionally, TON’s DeFi TVL has grown by 55% in a month.
However, strangely, the TON ecosystem seems to be flying under the radar of crypto Twitter.
Click a few buttons, and you’ll immediately understand what I mean. Here’s what you can do:
– Open Telegram and create a Ton wallet in the settings.
– “Wallet” is a custodial service
– “TON Space” is a non-custodial wallet, so be sure to create one.
– Deposit a few dollars worth of TON into both wallets.
– Explore a multitude of games to uncover their potential:
– Catizen game for virtual pet cats.
– Draw your pixel on a large canvas in the Pixel game.
– Train your Gattomon in this P2E Tamagotchi-style game. Pets are NFTs!
– Explore all the games on PlayDeck (like an app store).
– Try Ton DeFi:
– Swap and earn decent APY on Ston, a major DEX directly on Telegram with $100 million TVL. Currently, the annualized yield for TON/USDT is 90% due to Ton’s $5 million USDT reward giveaway.
– Trade a variety of ecosystem tokens on Storm Trade. Be cautious with leverage!
– Borrow and lend on Evaa Finance.
– Other cool dApps:
– Get an eSim for international mobile data.
– Find top liquidity pools by APY on Open League.
– Monetize your Telegram channel by issuing digital goods.
– Or fancy Tinder dating on TON – “Real Beautiful Girls Meet Smart Successful Boys?”
Telegram bots aren’t new, but issuing tokens and monetizing through these bots is now an in-house development. These bots are part of the Ton Space ecosystem, utilizing the Ton blockchain and its native token.
It’s not surprising that crypto Twitter isn’t focused on the Ton ecosystem as small games may not align with the interests of crypto Twitter whales.
However, I believe Ton has the potential to attract retail investors, and the success of just one viral Ton application can significantly propel the ecosystem’s growth, similar to how Axie Infinity popularized Play-to-earn.
One key catalyst to watch out for is the upcoming release of the Notcoin token. The successful launch of the token, following the completion of the airdrop mining campaign, could provide momentum for Ton.
2) Arweave
The AR token was launched in 2019 and rose from $1 to $80 within 2 years. However, it later dropped to $3.5 in September 2023. Surprisingly, it has since increased 7x but hasn’t garnered much attention.
With a current market cap of $2.6 billion (100% diluted), it’s no longer cheap but has reasons to remain bullish.
Arweave’s value proposition is simple yet powerful: permanent and secure storage of documents and applications.
You know, it could be the place where you store your Ethereum NFT JPEGs.
Arweave is a protocol that allows you to store data permanently and sustainably by paying a one-time upfront fee. The protocol matches individuals and organizations in need of permanent data storage or content hosting with those who have idle hard drive space.
Beyond JPEGs, Arweave supports permaweb, an alternative version of the internet where everything from images to complete web applications is stored permanently, quickly retrievable, and decentralized, ensuring they run and remain searchable as originally designed.
To achieve a truly decentralized future, as regulatory pressures on crypto DAOs and front-ends intensify, user-facing interfaces also need to be decentralized.
Filecoin is a competitor to Arweave, but Arweave is about 50% of Filecoin’s market cap, and Filecoin’s FDV is 5x that of Arweave!
But that’s not why it’s getting attention. This is the more optimistic part.
Arweave announced the launch of the Arweave AO (Advanced Oracle) testnet.
“AO is a superparallel computer, a decentralized computing environment that allows you to run any number of processes in parallel. Previous decentralized computing systems either supported massive computation or verifiable computation. AO can do both at the same time,” said Arweave founder Williams in the announcement video.
Arweave AO is designed for “infinite scalability,” and it holds the promise of revolutionizing decentralized computing. It’s a significant development that could further enhance Arweave’s value proposition and attract more users and developers.
Do your own research and evaluate the growth potential of these L1 ecosystems. Remember, this is not financial advice.As a professional translator, I would like to translate this news article into English using descriptive language. I will ensure that the sentences are accurate and fluent, and I will retain proper nouns and all 
tags. Please note that I will not include any explanations or additional content in my translation. Here is the translated content:
Title: Layer1 Projects Overview: Solana, MultiversX, Gnosis, and Radix
1. Solana
Solana is a Layer1 blockchain protocol known for its high-throughput capabilities, making it suitable for AI and large-scale applications. In an interview with Block, William, a representative from Solana, described the protocol as “infinitely scalable.” Solana’s core concept involves dividing the three main components of running a blockchain into separate components that can communicate with each other and process a high volume of transactions simultaneously. William even expressed confidence in competing with Ethereum, indicating that the era of being an “Ethereum killer” is not over yet. The team has built its own operating system called AOS, which supports EVM-based blockchains or SolanaVM can be built on top of AOS.
To test the network, users can download the wallet from arconnect.io and claim testnet AR from https://testnet.astrousd.com/app/dashboard to mint some USDA tokens. The Solana team continues to release new updates, including bridges and other features.
2. MultiversX
The debate between modularity and holistic scalability is a part of the Solana vs. Ethereum discussion. Which approach will dominate?
Supporters of the holistic approach criticize Ethereum for abandoning its Layer 1 (L1) scaling plans through sharding. Sharding involves dividing the blockchain network into smaller parts or “shards” to allow parallel processing of transactions. This method speeds up transaction processing by distributing the load across multiple shards. If sharding technology becomes more popular, MultiversX could benefit from it. Other sharding chains include Near and Ton.
MultiversX (formerly Elrond) uses EGLD for staking and transactions. It utilizes “Adaptive State Sharding and Secure Proof of Stake (SPoS)” to achieve a high transaction speed of up to 100,000 transactions per second through parallel processing and efficient validator selection. MultiversX currently ranks 26th with a Total Value Locked (TVL) of $129 million, alongside Stacks, Fantom, zkSync Era, Ton, and Osmosis. However, in terms of market capitalization, MultiversX is priced at half the value of FTM, one-third of STX, one-seventh of Near, and one-eighteenth of Ton.
The majority of the TVL on MultiversX is concentrated in two protocols: xExchange ($41 million) and Hatom ($85 million), along with their lending and LST protocols. The NFT ecosystem on MultiversX seems to be evolving, with most of the trading volume happening on the xoxno exchange. A notable feature is the xPortal mobile wallet, which aims to onboard a large-scale adoption of cryptocurrencies. It provides a fashionable and gamified user experience, allowing users to set usernames, trade cryptocurrencies, access news, and use crypto debit cards.
To get started, users can download xPortal from https://xport.al/ and obtain some EGLD from a CEX. They can then try exchanging tokens on xExchange, explore NFTs on Xoxno, and lend/borrow and provide liquidity on Hatom.
3. Gnosis
Gnosis is an OG protocol that shouldn’t be underestimated. Established in 2015 as part of ConsenSys, Gnosis was the first team to launch applications on Ethereum in 2016. While Gnosis functions as a sidechain for Ethereum, it has L1-like features.
GNO, the native token of Gnosis, is protected by staking GNO. Validators stake GNO and pay transaction fees in xDAI (bridged DAI), which is then used to buy back and burn GNO tokens. Impressively, GNO’s fully diluted valuation stands at $778 million (86% circulating), while the blockchain has a Total Value Locked (TVL) of $286 million, giving it the lowest FDV/TVL ratio (3.1) among major blockchains (Arbitrum is second with 3.8).
Gnosis hosts major DeFi dApps such as Aave, Maker’s Spark, Balancer, but the most interesting one is RealT, with a TVL of $104 million. RealT is an investment protocol that allows entry into the US real estate market through tokenization of ownership. Few blockchain protocols focus on bringing real-world finance to the masses.
Additionally, Gnosis has introduced Gnosis Pay, an unhosted debit card (which I also use). It’s really cool! With all these developments, Gnosis is launching Gnosis 3.0. This latest evolution of the Gnosis platform focuses more on payments and financial infrastructure, building applications for everyday financial activities and enabling decentralized financial tools for ordinary people.
The key emphasis is on building practical and valuable applications that can reach a large audience, moving away from the infrastructure-focused approach of the ecosystem. People in the cryptocurrency space are tired of overvalued infrastructure protocols. Moreover, with Stripe entering the crypto payment space, this sentiment may reemerge.
In the current market dominated by meme coins and yield farming, Gnosis 3.0 is a breath of fresh air that we need for real adoption. One interesting point: the Gnosis team has stated that they will focus on achieving “economic growth for GNO holders.” The framework to achieve these goals involves an AMM owned by the GNO/project token pool, implemented as CoW-AMM on the Gnosis Chain. This means that GNO is not only a governance and staking token but also an index token for the Gnosis ecosystem.
Finally, Gnosis 3.0 will use venture capital to incubate early-stage projects, bringing value to the ecosystem. Personally, I am most excited about the Gnosis Wallet, which aims to integrate the Gnosis ecosystem products into one place.
4. Radix
Radix is another Layer1 protocol with an impressive community. While having supporters is a good thing, it can sometimes be unsettling. I believe the team should reconsider their marketing strategy.
Nevertheless, the slogan “A Completely Different DeFi” from Radix resonates with me. How many L1 protocols put DeFi at the forefront?
This “Completely Different DeFi” includes adopting an asset-centric Radix Engine that treats tokens and other assets as “first-class citizens.” Unlike the Ethereum environment, which manages assets through complex smart contract code, Radix manages tokens as “physical” objects in user accounts, simplifying interactions and improving intuitiveness. The result is simpler smart contract development and reduced code complexity.
Furthermore, Radix has its own consensus mechanism called Cerberus, which supports dynamic sharding and atomic transactions across shards. Yes, Radix is the third L1 protocol with sharding capabilities. Notice the trend? (I personally prefer holistic chains for now, haha)
The native token XRD is used for staking and fee payments. Its current price corresponds to a market capitalization of $500 million, with a fully diluted market capitalization of $622 million.
The downside is that the Radix DeFi ecosystem is still small despite the discussions. Only six DeFi applications are registered on DeFillama, with a total TVL of $36 million. Some dApps worth trying include trading, providing liquidity, and earning on the main DEX CaviarNine (https://www.caviarnine.com/) and trading NFTs on Trove (https://swap.trove.tools/dashboard).
The good news is that to start using Radix, you need a wallet, and the user experience is good. While the wallet’s features may not be as rich as xPortal on MultiversX, it is easy to use. Get it here (https://wallet.radixdlt.com/). To connect to dApps on your PC, you need a browser extension called Radix Wallet Connector. Once connected, you only need to link your mobile wallet with the Connector once. Then, when you connect to a dApp, the Wallet Connector will send an approval request to your mobile app. This means you don’t have to scan QR codes every time you connect to a new dApp; you can simply approve it on your phone.
It may sound complicated, but it works smoothly.
Overall, if Radix focuses on delivering a truly better DeFi experience, its potential is not insignificant. The team needs to launch innovative dApps, provide higher yields, and improve marketing.
Tags:
AO
AR
Layer1
TON
Ethereum
Bitcoin
Source link:
https://www.jinse.cn/blockchain/3683657.html
Note: The views expressed in this article solely represent those of the author and do not constitute investment advice.
Original article link:
https://www.bitpush.news/articles/6675427
