🧨 Zilliqa and Old Layer-1s Start to Feel Pressure: What’s Happening?
🔍 Current Market Conditions
Zilliqa (ZIL), NEO, and several early-generation Layer-1 blockchains are experiencing heavy pressure. In the last 30 days:
ZIL has dropped more than −15%
NEO has dropped −12%
QTUM, ICON, and others are experiencing similar declines
Meanwhile, Layer-2 platforms like StarkNet, zkSync, and modular blockchains like Celestia and Avail are starting to attract interest from developers and investors.
🧬 What’s Causing the Pressure?
Technological Competition
Old Layer-1s still rely on monolithic architecture. Meanwhile, new networks are emerging with modularity, zk-rollups, and massive scalability. Developers are now seeking greater efficiency and scalability.
Lack of Innovative Updates
Some old projects are slow to adapt to new trends like re-staking, DePIN, and AI x blockchain. As a result, users and TVL are stagnant.
Developer Exodus
Many developers are choosing to move to ecosystems that are actively supported by funds and grants — such as Arbitrum, zkSync, or Base.
Market Pressure & Sentiment
Amidst Bitcoin's still high dominance (BTCD 52%), institutional money has not touched smaller altcoins. Old Layer-1s have become victims of asset rotation.
🧠 Focus: Where to for Zilliqa?
Zilliqa actually still has a strong technological foundation such as sharding, staking, and several GameFi/NFT projects. However, without cross-chain integration or its own Layer-2, its position is threatened.
Expand the ecosystem: Integration with EVM or major chains.
Upgrade the network: Support for new modularity & speed.
Marketing strategy: Needs to be revitalized to attract developers.
📌 Conclusion
Zilliqa and old-generation Layer-1s are at a crossroads. They can rebound if they can quickly adapt to new demands: modularity, efficiency, and cross-chain integration.
In the crypto world, the quick survive. The slow... are left behind by the market.
