Several tokens powering some of the industry’s biggest Layer-1 protocols, including Cardano, Solana, and Avalanche, are among the worst affected by the latest bear market, dropping hefty value over the past week.
Cardano (ADA), the eighth-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, is down 9.5% over the last week, trading about $0.395 by press time, data from CoinGecko shows.
The Cardano blockchain went through a major upgrade with the Vasil hard fork in September, which introduced a host of new features, including an optimized code base and reduced transaction times.
Yet, the upgrade failed to boost the price of ADA, which is now down 22.5% over the last month, and almost 82% since the start of the year.
Solana (SOL) is similarly on the downtrend over the week’s span, dropping 8.3%. SOL, which is the industry’s ninth-largest digital asset, is now changing hands at $31.38, per CoinGecko.
The protocol, while promising faster and cheaper transactions, has seen five major outages since its launch in 2020, with three of them happening this year. Each outage has been the result of either a bug in Solana’s code or the network becoming overwhelmed by artificial traffic from bots.
Although the project’s founder Anatoly Yakovenko recently claimed the solution to the network’s issues could be around the corner, the protocol once again made the headlines this week as the Solana-based DeFi trading platform Mango Markets fell victim to a hack, losing $100 million in the process.
Avalanche (AVAX) is another major layer-1 token that came under pressure in recent weeks, dropping 7.8% in value over the past seven days and more than 22% in the last month.
With a market cap above $4,7 billion, AVAX is the industry’s 17th-largest cryptocurrency.
Elsewhere in the market, Bitcoin (BTC) has been hovering just above $19,000 for the past couple of days and is now changing hands at $19,160, down 6% over the day.
Ethereum (ETH) is currently trading at $1,299, up 1% over the past 24 hours, but still down almost 5% on the last seven days.
Disclaimer
The views and opinions expressed by the author are for informational purposes only and do not constitute financial, investment, or other advice.
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FAQs
Solana is a layer-1 blockchain that addresses the challenges of speed, security, and decentralization. The platform processes thousands of transactions per second without needing a layer-2 protocol, making it highly efficient.
Is ADA a layer 1 blockchain? ›
Cardano. Cardano is a research-driven L1 blockchain that emphasises security, sustainability, and scalability. Its native token, ADA, is used for transactions, staking, and governance. Cardano uses the PoS consensus mechanism, with a unique multi-layer architecture that separates settlement and computation.
Is Avalanche a layer 1 blockchain? ›
Avalanche is a Layer 1 blockchain, which means that it is a competitor to Ethereum. Like Ethereum, Avalanche enables smart contracts to run decentralized applications (dApps) on its network.
What are the layer 1 blockchains? ›
A Layer-1 Blockchain refers to the foundational level of blockchain architecture, operating as the primary and autonomous chain on which transactions are directly executed and confirmed, as well as providing the essential infrastructure for decentralized applications and smart contracts.
Is Cardano a Layer 1 or 2? ›
Layer 1 is the base blockchain; it can validate and finalize transactions using its own network. Examples of Layer 1 blockchain projects are Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Cardano.
Is Avax Layer 1 or 2? ›
It is a base layer, or layer 1 (L1), which can connect to sidechains and support layer 2 (L2) solutions.
What is the fastest growing layer 1 blockchain? ›
What is the fastest-growing layer 1 blockchain? The fastest-growing layer 1 blockchain is Kaspa. Since it launched in July 2022, Kaspa has increased by over 7,000%.
What blockchain is Cardano built on? ›
Cardano is a Proof of Stake (PoS) general purpose blockchain project. Known as a “third-generation” blockchain, Cardano has set about solving the common scalability issues plaguing most “second-gen” blockchains (such as Ethereum and it's ever-increasing gas fees).
Why will Cardano fail? ›
Regulatory scrutiny and significant advancements in layer 2 blockchain technology further threaten the progress of projects building on Cardano. While Cardano was built to address the shortfalls of competitors like Ethereum, it has struggled to gain any significant level of adoption.
Should I buy AVAX or Sol? ›
Both blockchains use Proof-of-Stake consensus mechanism to protect their platform. Therefore, they are equally secure. However, when it comes to speed, Solana is faster than Avalanche. On the other hand, when it comes to security, Avalanche is a safer platform among most of the smart contract blockchains.
Built-in Blockchains
The Exchange Chain (X-Chain) is the default blockchain on which assets are created and exchanged. This includes Avalanche's native token, AVAX. The Contract Chain (C-Chain) allows for the creation and execution of smart contracts.
Why use Avalanche? ›
Avalanche helps to make the process more automated, more secure, and provides transparency on the status of any given application.
What is the fastest blockchain in 2024? ›
Solana stands out as the fastest blockchain, with a record number of 91 million transactions processed in a single day, on April 6, 2024. This feat represents an average rate of 1500 crypto transactions per second (TPS), which is 46 times faster than Ethereum and more than 5 times faster than Polygon.
What is the Solana network? ›
Solana (SOL) is a high-performance blockchain platform aiming for fast and low-cost transactions. Known for its scalability, Solana can handle thousands of transactions per second. SOL token is used for network operations, governance, and staking on the Solana ecosystem.
Which coin has its own blockchain? ›
Litecoin, Chia, Ripple, EOS, TRON, Monero, Solana, Stellar, NEO, and Dogecoin are all implemented on their own blockchain networks.
Does Solana have a layer 2? ›
Zeta Markets announced a $5 million raise Tuesday, partially to build a DeFi layer-2 on Solana. Electric Capital led the round, which added to the $8.5 million Zeta Markets raised in a 2021 seed round led by Jump Capital.
Is Solana a layer 3? ›
Another significant blockchain, Solana, contains around 500 layer 3 DApps and the network's Defi applications have a combined worth of close to $15 billion. By contrast, BTC lacks a functional application that might be easily classified as a layer 3 application.
Is Solana layer 0? ›
Layer-0 networks can provide a highly customizable infrastructure for specialized blockchains. Layer-0 blockchains, such as Avalanche and Solana, offer developers the flexibility to create bespoke networks tailored to their specific requirements.
What blockchain is Solana on? ›
Solana runs on a hybrid protocol of proof-of-stake (PoS) and a concept Solana calls proof-of-history (PoH).
