The Growth of Layer 1 Blockchains Has Reached 7,000% In 2024
With tokens soaring by more than 7,000% since January, 2024 has been an exciting year for Layer 1 (L1) blockchains. A few surprising tokens are taking the top spot this year in the rapidly evolving cryptocurrency market. Let us examine the top L1 winners and losers in 2024 in more detail.
Overview of the market
With Donald Trump's victory in the 2024 presidential election, the bitcoin market went vertical. Since it offers the platform for dApps and Smart Contracts, the demand for L1 solutions has increased, and rivalry amongst L1 blockchains is intensifying for the top spot. Nevertheless, Layer 2 alternatives, which seek to increase transaction speeds at a fraction of the price of well-known blockchains like Ethereum, pose a serious threat to them.
Which Layer 1 coins are doing the best?
Mantra (OM), one of the top performers, has seen unheard-of growth, with its value soaring by 7,035.2%. Mantra's collaboration with Zand, a digital bank established in the United Arab Emirates that permits the tokenization of real-world assets (RWAs) in accordance with Dubai's Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA), is partly responsible for this increase. Furthermore, traditional financial institutions are moving their bonds and money funds to the blockchain, increasing demand for RWA products.
Moderate gains were seen by the top 10 Layer 1 coins by market capitalization.
Even though mid- and small-cap layer 1 currencies experienced rapid growth, larger market-cap coins like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana continued to show themselves to be wise investments. Ethereum (ETH) witnessed a 34.9% increase, underperforming its peers, while Bitcoin (BTC) exhibited positive growth, rising 112.9% year-to-date. As additional layer 2s and other blockchains have emerged over time, its dominance in the market has gradually diminished. This is true even if the Ethereum Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) was introduced in the US on a spot basis. It did, however, surpass the S&P 500 index, which had increased by 24.8% in 2024.
After FTX's 2022 bankruptcy, Solana (SOL) has recovered and is up 134.3% so far this year. The bulk of its gains occurred in 2023, when memecoin fever caused it to soar from $15 to $120. Additionally, this tendency shifted to blockchains like Tron Network (TRX), which saw a year-to-date growth of 85.5%. However, because it uses Telegram, a well-known social messaging program, to host dApps, Toncoin (TON) saw an incredible 136.2% growth. On Telegram, tap-to-earn games have become incredibly popular.
The largest decreases
Conversely, a number of coins had a fall of up to -96% year-to-date. With a -95.3% year-to-date decline, coins like Entangle (NGL) were at the bottom of the barrel. Kujira (Kuji) and Trias Lab (TRIAS) came next, with declines of -86.7% and -83.4%, respectively. Since its March 2024 launch at a relatively high value, NGL's price has been declining. However, Kujira's performance was negatively impacted by the team's hazardous leveraged liquidity holdings, which backfired during a volatile market.
What was the performance of the 2024 introduction of Layer 1 coins?
The uneven results of several Layer 1 cryptocurrencies that were introduced in 2024 illustrate the difficulties of entering an industry that is already highly competitive. Saga (SAGA), which debuted in April, has also struggled, with a year-to-date decrease of -69.9%, while Aleo (ALEO), which debuted in September, has fallen by -58.1%. Zeta Chain (ZETA), which made its debut in February, is down -57.3%, and Omni Network (OMNI), which also began in April, has dropped -68.8%.
Ice Open Network (ICE), which has been in operation since January, has had a less severe decline of -34.5%, while Router Protocol (ROUTE), which was introduced in July, has fallen -24.8%. The most recent entrant, Kaia (KAIA), which debuted in late October, demonstrated a somewhat positive rise of 5.2%. These results demonstrate how unstable new L1 projects can be and how consistent innovation and acceptance are necessary to gain traction.
Conclusion
The L1 blockchain industry saw a range of results in 2024. Mantra is leading the way with an incredible YTD increase of 7,035%, supported by innovative blockchain use cases and strategic alliances. Well-known companies like Bitcoin, Solana, and Toncoin have proven their resilience in a changing industry with strong performances. Meanwhile, after launching with high valuations, recently released currencies have had a difficult uphill journey.
The next wave of winners in the constantly changing crypto field will be determined by the emphasis on scalability, utility, and regulatory compliance as the rivalry between Layer 1 and Layer 2 solutions heats up.
