All

The Future of

Crypto

 

and

 

DeFi

- Where are people building?

In one month, Solana has witnessed a 63.99% increase in TVL. This means that the value stored in DeFi protocols has almost doubled. A growth rate this large should not be ignored, and the market has taken note. In this same 1-month time frame, the price of SOL has increased by 29%. 

Solana is not EVM-compatible, meaning code cannot be easily converted from Ethereum-based protocols (where most of the building is) to Solana, so a lot of Solana-based protocols run only on Solana, and are not multi-chain. Examples of this are the quickly-growing lending platform Solend, and the DEX (Decentralized Exchange) Raydium. 

Avalanche’s 1-month growth rate comes in right behind Solana at 55.10%. This means that Solana and Avalanche are far ahead of all the others right now when it comes to their TVL growth rate, and thus adoption in general. Because Avalanche is compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), Web3 apps and websites can be easily transferred over from Ethereum to Avalanche, where users enjoy transaction fees up to 1000x less. 

Worth noting are that the projects on Avalanche have growth rates that are equally impressive as the chain itself. Prices for QI, PNG, JOE, YAK, and YETI are all up over 200% in the past month. All in all, Avalanche is one of the best alternatives to Ethereum on the market right now. 

Arbitrum is a layer 2 protocol that expands the possibilities of what can be accomplished on Ethereum's main chain alone. Made to run in conjunction with Ethereum’s main chain (in contrast to Solana and Avalanche which are competitor chains), Arbitrum saves users from the high fees and slow confirmation times of the Ethereum main chain and allows them to transact quickly and easily. 

This makes high-throughput on-chain transaction protocols like GMX.io, a decentralized leverage trading platform, possible for users to freely use without worrying about spending hundreds or thousands of dollars on transaction fees. In just 1-2 years time, Arbitrum has grown to a massive 2.35b total TVL, with a 13.79% growth rate alone in the past month. 

Optimism is very similar to Arbitrum is the way it feels and operates for users. It is also a layer 2 protocol on Ethereum with equally low fees. Interestingly, even though Optimism has been around for longer, Arbitrum has surpassed it by nearly 3x its total TVL. Optimism does have a similar 13.28% growth rate to Arbitrum, so it is certainly worth paying attention to. 

Despite high gas (transaction) fees, Ethereum isn’t going anywhere. People are still choosing to deploy their protocols on the Ethereum blockchain, with a 12.74% 1-month change in TVL. This shows that similar to Bitcoin, there is a niche, perhaps partially due to the Grandfather effect, that will build on and use Ethereum regardless of its expensive downsides. This has been seen consistently through several bull periods now, where faster, cheaper chains don’t always win. 

Many people deploy projects on Ethereum that require a low number of on-chain transactions for users. For projects that require users transact frequently, the first 4 chains on this list are great alternatives. Either way, Ethereum should remain on your radar for 2024 and beyond. 

SapientPro NYC, one of the largest blockchain development companies in the United States, can help you launch your crypto project. 

Simply fill out the Contact Us form on the top of the page and we’ll get back to you within 24 hours.