5 popular and frequently used Layer 1 cryptos

A Layer-1 primarily is a blockchain network that aims to improve the base protocol to make it more scalable. Layer 1 protocols allow various projects to build their ecosystem and involve two essential solutions of sharding and consensus protocol. 

The consensus protocol ensures the stability of the blockchain systems. Considered to be the backbone of the blockchains, their nodes verify all the transactions that take place. For example, Bitcoin uses the Proof of Work (PoW) as its consensus protocol, which can often be time and energy-intensive. Sharding is another popular Layer-1 scalability method that breaks each transaction into small data sets that can be processed on a parallel network. 

Many cryptos operate on a Layer-1 protocol network, let’s look at some of the more popular ones and frequently used by various projects. 

Ethereum (ETH)

While Bitcoin rules the roost in the crypto market due to its more excellent utility value, Ethereum has climbed up the charts. Ethereum enjoys a sizable share in the crypto market and is one of the most popular underlying blockchain platforms. Ethereum’s popularity over the past year has grown, but it still trails Bitcoin as an open-source blockchain system, which has its crypto. 

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Ethereum network today boasts of the market dominance of 17.7151%. Its token ETH on 8 March witnessed a positive spike as it was up by 2.11% at the time of drafting. ETH was trading at US$2,575.44 with a trading volume of US$15,416,344,432 with a live market cap of US$308,724,261,471 and 119,872,580 ETH coins in circulations. 

Solana (SOL)

Dubbed as the Ethereum Killer, Solana (SOL) is another popular Layer-1 network with a token. As an open-source project, which is permissionless, it is aimed to provide decentralized finance (Defi) solutions. Besides, the Solana protocol also facilitates decentralized app (DApp) creation and enhances scalability by presenting a Proof-of-History (PoH) consensus. With the Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus, the PoH offers scalable solutions to small-time traders and institutional traders alike. 

SOL too was witnessing a positive spike as it was up by 2.93% and was trading at US$84.52 with a trading volume of US$2,314,851,232. Some of the popular cryptos built on the Solana platform are Raydium, Oxygen Serum etc. 

Polkadot (DOT)

Another popular Layer-1 crypto acts as an open-source sharded multichain protocol. Polkadot aims to connect a network of specialized blockchains and facilitate various cross-chain data sets, making the blockchain interoperable. Polkadot is often dubbed as the foundational layer for Web 3 technologies.

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Polkadot on 8 March was trading at US$16.79 with a trading volume of US$915,782,299 over a day. The token was up by 2.67%, with a live market cap of US$16,585,832,336 and 987,579,315 DOT coins in circulation.  

Binance Smart Chain (BNB)

Binance Smart Chain is another popular platform that boasts of its cryptocurrency. The BNB token aims to bring cryptos to the financial forefront. As a decentralized, blockchain-based network, it is used by many crypto projects and infrastructure services providers for the entire blockchain ecosystem. 

Founded by Changpeng Zhao, the 4th ranked BNB token was trading at US$383.79 with a trading volume of US$2,113,038,106. The BNB crypto was up by 2.71% in the past 24 hours with a live market cap of US$63,370,501,978 and 165,116,761 BNB coins in circulation.  

Fantom (FTM)

Another popular Layer-1 crypto is best described as a directed acyclic graph (DAG) smart contract platform. Fantom aims to provide Defi services to developers who use its algorithm. Governed by its native token FTM, the Fantom protocol provides solutions to the issues related to smart contracts and transaction speed. 

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Created as an alternative to Ethereum, The Fantom crypto uses a scratch-built consensus mechanism and independent consensus layer to facilitate Defi and related services. The crypto was not seeing a good day at the office today, as it was down by 3%. FTM token was trading at US$1.36 with a trading volume of US$1,724,007,546. 

Conclusion

While several other cryptos are based on Layer-1 protocol, these are a few of the popular ones which have been among the hot trends of crypto enthusiasts. While their performance on the market may vary, they have managed to grab the attention of the market participants. Having said that, it’s important to note that cryptos are volatile assets, and their prices may vary at any given point in time. Therefore, as market participants, one has to be vigilant and do their market research before making any decisions. 

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