For anyone who wants to be involved in cryptocurrency and blockchain, it is vital to have a basic understanding of what Layer 1 blockchain are. These platforms contain core functions that include capturing transactions and validating data. In this article, we’ll talk about the top layer 1 blockchain and the reasons why these layer 1 solutions are critical.
Reasons Why Layer 1 Solutions Are Critical
Foundation for Applications: Layer 1 blockchains are the base layer for decentralized applications (dApps), decentralized finance (DeFi), nonfungible tokens (NFTs), and plenty of others.
Transaction Speed and Cost: The various Layer 1 blockchains also have varying speeds and costs. For instance, Bitcoin is secure, but the transaction speed is slower than that of Solana or Binance Smart Chain.
Innovation and Development: Some blockchains, such as Ethereum and Cardano, promote the creation of applications; hence, there are many tools, projects, and communities associated with them.
List of Top Layer 1 Blockchains
Ethereum (ETH):
The leading layer 1 Blockchain is Ethereum (ETH), founded by Vitalik Buterin in 2015. Ethereum restricts currency transfers and allows developers to design decentralized applications (dApps), making them more unique.
Why is Ethereum Popular?
Ethereum’s smart contracts enable individuals to set conditions of cause and effect on the blockchain. For instance, Ethereum can be used to build games, financial applications, and digital economies. It also supports the increasing world of decentralized finance and non-fungible tokens.
Key Highlights:
Smart Contracts: Enables the development of applications directly on the blockchain platform.
DeFi and NFTs: Ethereum is the most popular blockchain behind today’s DeFi and NFT projects.
Transitioning to (PoS): The largest altcoin is Ethereum, which is transitioning to a new proof-of-stake system that is more environmentally friendly.
At the time of writing, Ethereum was priced at $3,568 and had a 24-hour decline of 1.21%. Within the past week, Ethereum was up by 6.94% and has a total market capitalization of $429.64 billion.
Vitalik Buterin Outlines Ethereum’s Future Post-MergeSolana (SOL)
Solana (SOL) is a Layer 1 blockchain focusing on speed and throughput. This can handle thousands of transactions per second, making it one of the fastest Layer 1 blockchains in the market today.
Why is Solana a Top Contender?
The reason for the speed of the Soalna blockchain is that it utilizes PoH (proof of history) alongside PoS (proof of stake). Proof of history provides a unique certificate for each transaction, proving it was ordered on time. This allows Solana to perform transactions very efficiently and at the lowest charge.
Key Highlights
High Speed: It is a Layer 1 blockchain that can handle about 65,000 transactions per second.
Low Costs: The gas fees charged on the Solana network are very low.
Ideal for NFTs and DeFi: Due to its high speed and low cost, Solana is now a go-to platform for NFTs and DeFi projects.
Solana’s high speed and low fees make it the ideal blockchain for users requiring a scalable and cheap Layer 1 network. As of press time, Solana (SOL) is trading at $241.37 and has slipped by 6.61% in the past week. The market cap of SOL is at $114.58B and has a 24-hour trading volume of $3.62B.
Binance Smart Chain (BSC):
Binance Smart Chain is an open-source blockchain that was developed by Binance, the world’s number one cryptocurrency exchange platform, and it was established in 2020. BSC is built to be faster and cheaper than Ethereum, addressing all issues of slow scaling and high fees while supporting smart contracts and dApps.
Why is Binance Smart Chain Popular?
The low transaction rate of BSC makes it a preferred choice. Also, the robust structure of the BSC network paves the way for faster transactions, making it an ideal layer 1 solution.
Key Highlights:
Low Fees: BSC has a low transaction fee, and this makes it cheap for the users to use it.
Fast Transactions: BSC processes transactions fast, which makes it unique compared to other blockchains.
Growing dApp Ecosystem: BSC supports many dApps and DeFi projects, which represent many possibilities to users. Furthermore, BSC is integrated with Ethereum tools, which makes it suitable for users who want to make their transactions fast while reducing costs.
As of press time, Binance Coin (BNB) stands at a market capitalization of $94.03 billion. It is priced at $652.81, with a price increase of 4.14% over the past seven days.
Cardano (ADA)
Another top Layer One blockchain is Cardano, symbolized by the ADA token. This protocol is also famous for its emphasis on security and ecological preservation. Established by Charles Hoskinson, one of the co-founders of Ethereum, Cardano is an attempt to provide a more environmentally friendly and optimally scaled blockchain through a scientific approach.
Why Cardano Stands Out?
Cardano employs a proof-of-stake consensus algorithm known as Ouroboros that is much more efficient than a proof-of-work. Its development is well thought out and follows a peer-reviewed process, which has helped garner the support of the community, academics, and researchers.
Key Highlights:
Eco-Friendly: Cardano’s PoS model consumes much less power than other blockchains.
Research-Driven: The fundamentals of Cardano are based on research and peer review.
Growing Ecosystem: As the innovative contract functionalities, dApps and DeFi projects are being onboarded to the Cardano platform.
A focus on sustainability is a rarity in the Layer 1 blockchains and is one of the reasons why many are drawn to Cardano. At the time of writing, ADA is trading at $1.08, which has surged by 9.01% in the last 24 hours and 25.52% over the previous seven days.
Binance Aids Indian Police to Dismantle Solar Scam; 100K USDT SeizedAvalanche (AVAX)
Avalanche is a high-performance Layer 1 blockchain platform designed to solve the scalability, speed, and cost problems faced by networks like Ethereum. It is known for its groundbreaking consensus mechanisms and tri-blockchain architecture. Avalanche provides developers with unparalleled flexibility and efficiency, and because of its compatibility with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) it allows seamless migration of dApps, making it a versatile choice in the blockchain ecosystem.
Why is Avalanche a Leading Blockchain?
AVAX can process over 4,500 transactions per second, significantly outpacing many competitors. Its use of innovative consensus protocols like Avalanche Consensus and Snowman allows for low latency, high throughput, and near-instant finality.
Key Highlights:
Speed & Scalability: Capable of handling thousands of transactions per second, with near-instant finality.
Compatibility: Fully supports Ethereum-based applications due to its EVM compatibility.
Innovative Consensus Mechanisms: Combines Avalanche Consensus for parallel processing with Snowman for sequential data handling.
At the time of publication, AVAX was trading at $43.55, an increase of 3.76% in the last 24-hours and a 16.50% increase over the past week. It has a market capitalization of $17.84B and a volume of $597.83M.
Conclusion
Knowing the basic characteristics of the top Layer 1 blockchain is essential for anyone who wants to start investing and developing dApps. Layer 1 blockchains have all the vital features that are needed for any transaction, application, and project related to the blockchain – security, speed, cost, and sustainability. These Layer 1 platforms would become very important as the crypto space grows and will be instrumental in the future of financial technology.
