Best Layer-1 Blockchain in 2022: Which Are The Best?

Layer 1 blockchains are those systems constructed on top of the "raw" blockchain. It includes basic functionality like transaction processing. Bitcoin is a good example of this. 

Layer 2 blockchains, on the other hand, are protocols developed on top of Layer 1 blockchains to address speed and cost issues. 

Layer 3 is the most straightforward application when it comes to blockchain technology. The games, the decentralized financial applications (DeFi), and the decentralized storage apps are all here. Users can interact with more than two platforms or apps simultaneously when they use Layer 3 blockchains.

However, the Layer 1 blockchain is popular because it can conserve more energy, has more market cap, and lower specification requirements. Let's take a look at some of the top Layer 1 Blockchains:

1. Bitcoin

When Satoshi Nakamoto established Bitcoin in 2009, he opened the door to the Bitcoin blockchain's potential. Since then, developers and users alike have been scrambling to figure out how to make the network more scalable since then, resulting in several forks. The Bitcoin network verifies transactions and adds new blocks using Proof of Work Consensus.

As a tier 1 blockchain, it is the most difficult to attack, making it very secure. Among Bitcoin's many advantages is its ability to do this. By March 7, 2022, the BTC coin, which stands for Bitcoin, was selling for just over $39,000, making it the native currency of Bitcoin. In order to restrict the asset's inflation, there will be no more than 21 million BTC mined.

The Lightning Network has been a key tool in helping applications take advantage of Bitcoin's secure nature while avoiding the scale and performance issues that come with the protocol. As a result, transactions may be completed more quickly on the lighting network.

2. Ethereum

This blockchain platform was created on its own in July 2015. Despite this, the framework and idea for the project were derived from Bitcoin and other prior developments. Coinbase utilizes a similar methodology to Bitcoin's Proof of Work system. The platform's native currency is Ether (ETH).

The Ethereum network provided the first possibility for the blockchain community to create goods on a blockchain network. A nice example of an Ethereum-based blockchain platform is Polygon, which uses smart contracts to accomplish its goals.

Consensus is Ethereum's biggest difficulty. Concerns about decentralization and security have stymied proposals to switch to Proof of Stake (PoS). Since Ethereum's London split, a part of the transaction fee has been burned, which reduces the amount of currency in circulation.

Despite all the pros, ethereum has very high energy consumption and does not have native NFT.

3. Polkadot

It was created in May of 2020 by Dr. Gavin Wood, co-founder of Ethereum, Peter Czaban and Robert Habermeier as a shared multichain network. The idea behind Polkadot was to create a decentralized internet of blockchains that would make it simple for users to move between them.

Polka Dots four components are as follows: a relay chain that, according to coinmarketcap, creates "consensus, interoperability, and shared security across the network of different chains." 

Independent chains operate differently.It bridges for connecting parachains or parathreads to external blockchain platforms.

Polkadot has low energy consumption and a large community.

4. UniChain

UniChain has great scalability, user-friendliness, and security. It was created by the UniLab Dao Network using the Uniworld Ecosystem. As of June 4th, 2020, the mainnet has been operationally deployed. As of this writing, there are hundreds of wallets (wallet addresses) in use by members of the platform's enormous community and major exchanges.

For the Unichain network, a DPOS-Hotstuff mechanism (similar to Facebook's Libra currency) is used, which is a more advanced POS that allows UNW holders to have a greater say in network operations and Uniworld ecosystem growth.

Its current market cap is $10.5 million. It has low power consumption and just 4 CPU cores, 8GB of memory, and 100GB of disk space are required for it to run smoothly.

5. Solana

Solana uses the Proof of History technique to validate transactions and create blocks for the first time across the whole blockchain network. It is almost as excellent as Ethereum, and it is one of the most rapid blockchain systems.

Anatoly Yakovenko, who has been credited as the driving force behind the Solana blockchain, deserves to be commended. A project he was working on at Qualcomm led to the creation of Solana Labs. Later, he was joined by a few colleagues from his employer.

Solana has a lot to offer its users with 50,000 transactions per second, cheap costs, and the biggest futures market in the world. In comparison to Ethereum, which has over 200,000 validators, it has a significant drawback: it is not completely decentralized.

6. Binance Smart Chain

Because of its integrated wallet and launchpad, Binance has established itself as a leader in the crypto market. In terms of their current capabilities, each of these utilities has made significant strides.

When Binance Chain couldn't meet the needs of its consumers, Binance Smart Chain was created. Thanks to BSC, which is EVM compatible, developers may now move their Ethereum-based applications to BSC and take advantage of the blockchain's speed.

To become a validator on the network, BNB must be staked via the Proof of Stake technique. One of the best things about BSC is that it offers a wide range of options for just about everything you can think of. Binance, CEX, PancakeSwap, and more! BSC may be the only platform you'll ever need to run your business.

7. Terra Blockchain

Daniel Shin and Do Kwon established Terra in January 2018 and the mainnet was deployed in 2019. In an effort to bring blockchain technology to a wider audience, the project's creators decided to concentrate on the value and stability of cryptocurrencies.

Terra (LUNA) is the native currency here, with an ATH of $103.3 and a ROI of 471.1 percent.As coinmarketcap.com puts it, "the borderless advantages of cryptocurrencies with the daily price stability of fiat currencies" is how Proof of Stake aims to differentiate itself by using "fiat-pegged stablecoins" to safeguard its blockchain. But cryptocurrency luna crashes to $0 as UST falls further from dollar peg.

8. Algorand

After two years of development, Algorand Algor was released with its mainnet and the ALGO token in 2017. The blockchain is more secure than conventional POS systems because of its Pure Proof of Stake algorithm. Randomly picked validators make it impossible to know who will be the greatest validator, no matter how many tokens are staked.

Decentralization, faster verification, fewer forks, and lower gas prices are just some of Algorand's primary features. It also has a highly experienced staff driving the project.

9. Cardano

Cardano Charles Hoskinson, one of Ethereum's co-founders, created and published Cardano between 2015 and 2017. Proof-of-Stake is a blockchain technology. The Ouroboros consensus mechanism is created with five phases in mind: foundation, decentralization, smart contracts, scalability, and governance, which are all interconnected. The network's native token is ADA.

In order to make it easier for businesses to use blockchain technology, Cardano is focusing on corporate dApps. As an example, consider Atala PRISM, SCAN, and Trace. As a green product, it has a two-layer design that is more efficient than other platforms.

Other advantages include the usage of the Cardano Clearing Level, which lets users pay extremely minimal costs while trading ADA very quickly. On the blockchain, smart contracts are also possible.

10. Hedera

Dr. Leemon Baird and Mance Harmon conceived of the idea for the initiative, which they co-founded. Hedera Hashgraph Consensus is a unique consensus method that works with POS structures to give the Hashgraph network asynchronous Byzantine fault tolerance (ABFT).

This ensures that even if the verification process takes longer than expected, the sequence and timing of transactions will not be affected. The platform's native currency is HBAR.

There is no scalability issue with Hedera, which is one of the few few-layer systems. Smart contract activities may be completed in five seconds or less; there is no transaction cost, and the TPS is 10,000. It also uses the Proof of Deletion mechanism for the storage of data.

11. CRO 

CRO was released in November and December of this year. The team of Kris Marszalek, Bobby Bao, Rafael Melo, and Gary Or was tasked with filling the void left by the lack of payment options for the crypto.com users.

Cronos Chain uses the Cosmos SDK, which uses a proof-of-authority (PoA) consensus process. The Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) makes it easy to move projects between Ethereum, BSC, and other EMV-compliant platforms.

Layer 1 architectures such as Fantom, NEAR Protocol, and TRON are also strong. Layer 1 is getting more prominent as more people learn about blockchain.

Daika Ginza