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Navigating Macro Headwinds, On-Chain Optics, and The Rise of Runes
• Bitcoin Weathers Macroeconomic Storm
• Heightened User Activity, Soaring Transaction Fees, While Miners Sell Less
• Runes Protocol and Bitcoin’s Ever-Growing Ecosystem
Navigating Macro Headwinds, On-Chain Optics, and The Rise of Runes
This newsletter will be a Bitcoin-centric edition as we dissect the impact of recent macroeconomic events on Bitcoin’s price, followed up with an on-chain analysis of the network’s behavior post-halving. Additionally, we’ll explore some of the exciting innovations emerging within the Bitcoin ecosystem that were timed following the latest halving.
Bitcoin Weathers Macroeconomic Storm
The past two weeks have presented a challenging market environment for the crypto industry. As mentioned in our last newsletter, rising inflation in the U.S. remains, as evidenced by the higher-than-expected CPI print on April 9. Additionally, escalating conflict in the Middle East poses a significant threat to regional stability and added stress on the U.S. The potential of wider involvement from additional militant groups such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah, coupled with Iran’s control of a crucial maritime passage for commodity trading, the Strait of Hormuz, raise concerns about potential energy price hikes, steepening inflationary pressures and their effect on various asset classes.
Bitcoin initially reacted negatively to these events, experiencing an 8.22% drop in the immediate aftermath. Despite the 24/7 nature of crypto markets, which could have amplified the initial price shocks, Bitcoin’s underlying resilience shines through upon closer inspection. The S&P 500 fell by 2.03% on the market reopening last Monday and continues to tumble, while Bitcoin has recovered over 3.28% since the drawdowns, evidenced in Figure 1. This suggests a potentially more robust response to geopolitical turmoil compared to traditional assets, which is unsurprising given Bitcoin’s narrative as a flight to safety.
Figure 1: Bitcoin vs. Gold Price Performance Amid Geopolitical Tension
Source: TradingView
Examining Bitcoin’s market data, we see clear evidence that the futures market played a significant role in the initial price drops, which were attributed to the macroeconomic events of the last few weeks. A significant spike in long liquidations on the day of the attack, at $168M, suggests that some leveraged traders exited their positions, as shown below in Figure 2. Additionally, the high open interest at $35B leading up to the CPI print was followed by a recent $5B cool-off, indicating a correction in the futures market, reflected in the consolidation of the Bitcoin price.
Figure 2: Bitcoin Futures Long Liquidations, Short-Term and Long-Term Holder Supply
Source: Glassnode
Importantly, the spot market paints a more optimistic picture. In the last 10 days, which includes last week’s turbulence, long-term holders displayed minimal selling activity. Their holdings decreased by only 0.05%, while short-term holders continued to accumulate BTC, increasing their holdings by 0.5%. Notably, “Accumulation Addresses,” characterized by having no outbound transactions, holding more than 10 BTC, and not being affiliated with centralized exchanges or miners, have capitalized on the recent market dip. They currently hold over 3.17M BTC, accumulating over $2.3B since the CPI print, as evidenced below by Figure 3.
Figure 3 – Total Balance in Accumulation Addresses
Source: Glassnode
Further bolstering the positive outlook, the 90-day due diligence period for U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs has now concluded. According to Bloomberg, over 100 fund managers have disclosed their ownership of these products, signifying the growing institutional appetite for Bitcoin exposure, adding another layer of support to the asset class.
Heightened Activity, Soaring Transaction Fees, While Miners Sell Less
In the world of Bitcoin, transactions get logged onto a whiteboard-like structure, divided into cells called “blockspace,” where each cell represents a limited amount of space. Transaction fees play a crucial role in managing limited block space on the Bitcoin network. Users who pay higher fees get their transactions prioritized for confirmation within these blocks. This ensures smoother operation by preventing congestion and disincentivizing low-value spam transactions. Additionally, transaction fees serve as an important security measure. They incentivize miners to dedicate significant computing power to validate transactions and secure the network. Without these fees, mining might become less profitable, potentially jeopardizing network security.
Finally, transaction fees are at the core of Bitcoin’s economic sustainability as the mining reward gets halved every 210,000 blocks, transaction fees step up to fill the gap and pump miners’ revenue. We can already see the early innings of transaction fees rising against the issuance or block rewards since the launch of Ordinals in 2023, as shown in the chart below.
Figure 4 – Bitcoin Miners Revenue Breakdown
Source: 21co on Dune
It is no surprise that Bitcoin network activity has been high this year, with the amount of active addresses hovering between 700K and 1 million since January, up until the halving event. On-chain data reveals a lower-than-expected drop in active addresses following the halving, with transaction fees reaching new highs. While active addresses did experience a significant drop (43%) on April 19, falling from over 893K to 500K, they have already recovered 70K since then. Historically, the halving typically leads to a smaller decrease in active addresses (3-9%). This larger drop could indicate that rising fees are pricing some users out of the market for now, but as we’ll cover later, there are certain solutions being worked on to help alleviate this issue.
That said, transaction fees soared up to $128 on April 20, breaking $78M, tripling the previous all-time high, and making up 75% of Bitcoin miner revenue, as shown in Figure 4. The spike was primarily due to Ordinal-like inscriptions which have recently seen a spike thanks to Runes protocol, which we’ll delve deeper into in the last section. In line with this, the burgeoning Bitcoin ecosystem, expedited by Rune, has not only pushed Bitcoin out of its comfort zone unlocking new use cases, but also its transaction fees to surpass Ethereum’s since May 2023, as seen in Figure 5.
Figure 5 – BTC vs ETH fees (2 Years)
Source: Glassnode
The growth in transaction fees is appreciated even further, especially when we examine miner behavior following the halving event. Miners are now less motivated to immediately liquidate their freshly acquired BTC, as they can capitalize on an additional revenue stream apart from block rewards.
Let’s zoom in on miner activity after the halving. About 50 BTC were sold on centralized exchanges on April 20, which doesn’t compare to the sell-off of March 5 when approximately 1,154 BTC were sent to exchanges, pulling the asset to ~$64K, down from ~$68K, as shown in the chart below. The recent sale also doesn’t compare to the 307 BTC sold on the day following the previous halving in May 2020, when the asset was trading just below $9K.
Figure 6 – Transfer Volume from Bitcoin Miners to Exchanges in BTC (YTD)
Source: Glassnode
The rising importance of Ordinal inscription, akin to non fungible tokens (NFTs), can be seen with Bitcoin generating $475M in real NFT sales versus Ethereum, which helps miners rake in more revenue and become sustainable. That said, the growing adoption of the Runes protocol is expected to drive even more activity toward the miners over the coming months.
Runes Protocol and Bitcoin’s Evergrowing Ecosystem
To recap, Runes streamlines the creation and management of fungible tokens on top of Bitcoin. It addresses the inefficiencies of the BRC20 standard, which have burdened the Bitcoin blockchain due to its inefficient data handling approach. That said, Runes achieves this in two key ways. Firstly, it optimizes transaction fees by consolidating multiple Unspent Transaction Output (UTXO) transactions into one bundle, leveraging Bitcoin’s accounting UTXO model. Additionally, it utilizes Bitcoin’s script, OP_Return, to inscribe data directly onto the blockchain, which serves to assign and transfer Runes balances within the network’s UTXOs. By minimizing data usage to 80 bytes, compared to BRC20’s 4MB, Runes prevents unnecessary bloat on the Bitcoin blockchain.
Ultimately, Runes presents an innovation aimed at bolstering Bitcoin’s security budget, offering miners an alternative revenue source to reduce their dependence on Bitcoin’s subsidized rewards over the long term. In fact, miners have earned about 1,500 BTC, valued at close to $100M in less than three days of trading activity, as seen below in Figure 7. To that end, Runes has garnered widespread support from the outset, with multiple Tier 2 exchanges such as OKX and Gate.io already announcing the listing of early collections like UNCOMMON.GOODS and MEME.ECONOMICS, which were among the first collections minted. Additionally, Binance appears to be hinting at support for meme tokens like Wizard and Pups, which were also among the first tokens to migrate from the BRC20 to the Runes standard. Meanwhile, NFT platforms like Magic Eden and Bitcoin-focused wallet provider Unisat are also joining the trend to capitalize on Runes’ growing popularity.
Figure 7: Fees Paid by Users to Mint Tokens Using the New Runes Protocol
Source: CryptoKoryo on Dune
Following the pattern of past hype cycles, we anticipate that the initial excitement surrounding Runes will gradually subside, followed by a surge of heightened activity in the long run. This trend is often observed because the initial wave of interest tends to be on meme tokens, which can be quickly deployed and attract the masses’ attention, but often don’t add substantial value. However, as time progresses, sophisticated primitives like exchanges, automated market makers, and other DeFi lego blocks will begin emerging. These advancements will bolster Bitcoin’s capabilities at the application layer, streamlining the process of token trading on the Bitcoin network, much like ERC20/ERC721 did for Ethereum. In fact, when considering Bitcoin’s untapped market potential to establish its own fungible market ecosystem compared to other smart contract platforms, it becomes evident that there is substantial room for growth for this new generation of tokens, as illustrated in Figure 8 below.
Figure 8: The Market Opportunity for Bitcoin’s Fungible Tokens Ecosystem
Source: FranklinTempleton
That said, Ordinals and Runes aren’t the only source of excitement pushing the boundaries of Bitcoin. For one, Bitcoin’s scaling solution Stacks began the first phase of its Nakamoto upgrade, called the instantiation stage, on April 22, while its final phase is expected to culminate by the end of May. As part of the upgrade, Stacks will introduce faster block processing times, enabling transactions to be finalized in under 5 seconds, a significant improvement from Bitcoin’s average of 10-30 minutes. Additionally, Stacks will leverage Bitcoin’s robust security guarantees, making transaction reversals on the Stacks network as challenging as those on the Bitcoin network. Furthermore, the upgrade will introduce a 1:1 BTC-backed asset (sBTC), enhancing the utility of Bitcoin by enabling its use across a diverse ecosystem of financial and gaming applications built on top of the scaling solution. The growing excitement surrounding its upgrade has pushed the total valued locked on the network to its highest point last week, reaching $170M.
On the other hand, there is a growing ecosystem of scaling solutions emerging on the back of BitVM, released last year. Standing for Bitcoin Virtual machine, this primitive is an operating system that allows for native smart-contract functionality on top of Bitcoin. It does so by introducing what’s known as a two-party provider verifier model that allows for complex computation to be executed off-chain, which can then be challenged on top of Bitcoin using fraud proofs, akin to how Arbitrum and Optimism function. To put it simply, BitVM enables Bitcoin to host more complex applications, which is giving birth to an embryonic L2 landscape, including Chainway, BitLayer, and Bob, amongst others, aiming to alleviate the issue of rising transaction costs. However, we will be closely monitoring this emerging sector, as there are numerous projects attempting to exploit the unprecedented enthusiasm for Bitcoin to launch potentially fraudulent protocols.
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This Week’s Calendar
Source: Forex Factory, 21Shares
Research Newsletter
Each week the 21Shares Research team will publish our data-driven insights into the crypto asset world through this newsletter. Please direct any comments, questions, and words of feedback to research@21shares.com
Disclaimer
The information provided does not constitute a prospectus or other offering material and does not contain or constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of any offer to buy securities in any jurisdiction. Some of the information published herein may contain forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties and that actual results may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors. The information contained herein may not be considered as economic, legal, tax or other advice and users are cautioned to base investment decisions or other decisions solely on the content hereof.
The crypto market has surged past $3T in total market capitalization, with smart-contract platforms leading the charge as risk appetite expands beyond Bitcoin. In particular, lean, cost-efficient blockchains have emerged as a key driver for onboarding users and boosting on-chain activity, as reflected in Figure 1.
• Solana soared 57% since the election, driven by memecoin-fueled retail interest and unprecedented DeFi activity, generating more revenue than Ethereum.
• Sui reached a new all-time high (ATH) near $4, also boosted by its gaming device pre-launch and consumer-friendly features.
• Aptos is gaining momentum for institutional-grade solutions like tokenization and payments, contributing to a recent price surge of 71%.
Figure 1 – Sector Price Performance Since Election Day
Source: Artemis, 21Shares
Given the proliferation of Layer 1s (L1s), it invites a closer examination of how the industry reached this point.
• Each L1 tackled the blockchain trilemma differently. While Bitcoin and Ethereum prioritized decentralization and security, later iterations focused on optimizing scalability.
• Ethereum’s first-mover advantage cemented the EVM as the standard for blockchain platforms, driving widespread adoption. However, its limitations spurred innovation, leading to the development of new virtual machines such as Solana’s SVM.
Despite these differences, each L1 plays a critical role in the on-chain ecosystem, tailored to unique use cases based on their architecture and features outlined in Figure 2 below.
Figure 2 – Technical Breakdown of Layer 1 Landscape
Source: Artemis, 21Shares
Below, we outline the unique strengths of each network, highlighting how they address various use cases in the order of their launch.
Ethereum – July 2015
The leading platform for decentralized applications (dApps) and a pioneer in smart-contract technology, as the first blockchain to introduce smart contracts.
• Ethereum laid the foundation for dApps and DeFi, commanding the highest liquidity with a Total Value Locked (TVL) of $60B.
• Its focus on decentralization and security, with more than 1M validators, makes it a trusted platform for tokenized government securities, totaling over $1.5B in assets.
• Ethereum hosts over 4,000 dApps, including prominent DeFi platforms like Uniswap and Aave, leveraging its unmatched network effects as the most widely adopted blockchain. While Layer 2 solutions enhance speed and efficiency, they have also introduced fragmentation, leading to reduced revenue.
Cardano – September 2017
The platform sets itself apart with a rigorous, research-driven approach to blockchain development.
• Introduced formal verification for smart contracts and enhanced Ethereum’s Proof-of-Stake (PoS) with Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS), democratizing transaction validation.
• Collaborates with governments like Ethiopia to deploy Atala PRISM, enabling digital IDs that improve access to education and financial infrastructure in underserved regions. The network also promoted a transparent and efficient aid distribution system.
• Cardano’s growth has been hindered by slow development, a lack of EVM compatibility, and the absence of on-chain governance, resulting in a modest $456M TVL. Recent upgrades like the Chang Hard Fork foster a community-driven network, while the BitcoinOS integration will boost cross-chain utility by facilitating ADA-powered Bitcoin transactions.
Solana – March 2020
The network prioritized scalability powered by their innovative dual consensus model combining Proof of History (PoH) and PoS. With the ability to process nearly 3,000 transactions per second (TPS), Solana stands as one of the fastest blockchains available.
• This month, Solana’s DEX trading volume exceeded Ethereum’s by $40B, fueled by its efficient, low-cost blockchain and propelled by a dynamic DeFi ecosystem rich in retail-driven activity. This surge in trading volume has been a key driver behind the growth in Solana’s TVL, now reaching $8.3B.
• Solana powers decentralized physical infrastructure networks (DePIN) like Helium (broadband), Hivemapper (mapping), and Render (3D rendering), which demand high-speed, low-cost transactions at scale. Solana’s fast and efficient blockchain provides the necessary infrastructure for these applications to operate smoothly and cost-effectively.
• For Solana to deepen its integration with traditional finance—supported by PayPal’s PYUSD, which processes $30B, along with partnerships with Visa and Shopify—it must address ongoing network reliability issues, especially as its network experienced downtime once this year and multiple times over the past three years. The Firedancer validator client, capable of over 1M TPS on testnet, is positioned to reduce outages and enhance reliability, solidifying Solana’s role as a top solution.
Avalanche – September 2020
An EVM-compatible blockchain characterized by its subnet architecture, which enables customizable, permissioned networks connected to the Avalanche mainnet.
• Avalanche’s scalable subnet architecture enables customizable, permissioned networks with flexible gas fees, data privacy, and validator incentives. The Avalanche9000 upgrade enhances this with shared liquidity, lower validator costs, and full customizability, including geo-restrictions, making it ideal for tailored enterprise blockchain solutions.
• Avalanche’s Evergreen Subnets have attracted major TradFi players, including Franklin Templeton, which tokenized its $420M government money fund, as well as Citibank and Wellington Management exploring financial applications.
• Avalanche supports a wide range of industries, from Deloitte’s federal disaster reimbursement platform—designed to improve claim speed and transparency—to gaming projects like Shrapnel, which is built the GUNZ subnet. Its EVM compatibility and robust ecosystem pushed its TVL past $1B.
The Open Network (TON) – September 2021
A high-throughput blockchain designed for seamless user onboarding, TON aims to deliver a Web3 WeChat-like experience. Its strategic partnership with Telegram, which boasts 900M monthly active users, positions it as a key driver of mainstream blockchain adoption.
• TON’s Mini Apps act as a gateway to its on-chain ecosystem, leveraging projects like Hamster Kombat, which peaked at nearly 300M users, to drive retail adoption. However, its $300M TVL reflects a nascent financial ecosystem focused on simpler, retail-friendly use cases, leaving it comparatively underdeveloped in DeFi.
• Processing nearly 28M transactions this month, TON is strongly positioned to drive blockchain-based payments. Its recent USDT integration, surpassing $1B in supply within just seven months, further reinforces its potential in this space.
• Despite recent setbacks at Telegram, which operates independently from TON, the network’s growth this year underscores its strong potential. With scalable infrastructure and a vast addressable market, TON is well-positioned to onboard the next wave of users.
Aptos – October 2022
A high-performance blockchain leveraging the Move programming language, which was developed by Meta for their Diem project. Move prioritizes security and scalability, making it a strong contender for institutional use cases.
• Parallel processing enables sub-second settlement times and a theoretical throughput of 160K TPS, ensuring the performance needed for enterprise-grade applications.
• Aptos, led by ex-executives of Meta’s Diem project, is bringing institutions on-chain. Its credibility is bolstered by partnerships with TradFi giants like Microsoft, Franklin Templeton, and NBC Universal, alongside institutional-grade use cases such as Ondo’s tokenization platform. Alongside a growing DeFi ecosystem, which we’ll explore in detail later, these efforts have propelled its TVL to nearly $1B.
• Aptos streamlines Web3 access with keyless accounts, passwordless authentication, and transaction previews. Its support for emerging markets includes cost-efficient devices like the Jambo Phone, preloaded with blockchain tools. By combining advanced scalability with user-first design, Aptos is well-positioned for this cycle.
Sui – May 2023
Aptos’ twin is also a high-performance blockchain designed to deliver Web2-like simplicity to Web3. Also built on the Move programming language, it focuses on consumer-facing applications rather than institutional use cases.
• Sui caters to retail users with innovations like SuiPlay0X1, a gaming device bridging Web3 and traditional gaming. This focus has positioned Sui as a leader in consumer-facing dApps.
• Sui pairs sub-second finality and parallel processing with intuitive features like zkLogin for wallet creation via Google or Face ID, gasless interactions covered by apps, and QR-based payments with zkSend. By combining scalability with a user-friendly experience, Sui is primed to drive retail adoption and bridge the gap between Web2 and Web3, onboarding the next generation of crypto users.
• The recent launch of its Ethereum bridge and USDC support has significantly boosted Sui’s DeFi ecosystem, driving its TVL beyond $1.5B. This growth aligns with Sui’s recent ATH, just shy of $4.
We’ve just highlighted each blockchain’s unique features and selling points; now, let’s examine how these translate into real on-chain activity. We’ll assess key metrics like active addresses, decentralized exchange (DEX) trading volume, fees generated, and TVL to provide a clearer picture of each network’s performance.
Daily Active Addresses
Figure 3 – Daily Active Addresses on Smart-Contract Platforms in 2024
Source: Artemis, 21Shares
As shown in Figure 3 above, Solana emerged as a forerunner in user engagement, boasting the largest user base of 6.5M users driven by its trifecta of low fees, rapid transactions, and a user-friendly interface. A perfect storm for the memecoin frenzy that swept through the network this year, with more than 3.5M tokens launched on the memecoin factory pump.fun alone. Furthermore, Solana has become the preferred platform for the latest crypto trends, including tokens tied to AI-powered agents and DePIN protocols, as discussed earlier.
Similarly, Aptos has shown impressive user growth compared to other L1 blockchains like Avalanche, driven by its expanding DeFi ecosystem. Key developments fueling momentum include Blackrock’s BUIDL product expansion, the deployment of Tether’s USDT and Circle’s USDC on the network, and the upcoming integration of sBTC by Stacks. Together, these advancements are driving increased user enthusiasm and engagement across the network.
Ethereum, however, remains a formidable player, having effectively shifted a significant portion of its activity to L2 scaling solutions. This has resulted in almost 90% of transactions now occurring on L2s rather than the mainnet, underscoring the growing importance of scaling solutions as the execution layer for the legacy network. Despite this, L2s solutions have dramatically expanded Ethereum’s capabilities, achieving a 26-fold increase in throughput —382 transactions per second compared to 14 on the base layer—and attracting a user base of 2.6M, more than seven times Ethereum’s mainnet average of 350K users.
Decentralized Exchange Volume
Figure 4 – Decentralized Exchange Trading Volume on Smart-Contract Platforms in 2024
Source: Artemis, 21Shares
From a broader perspective, Ethereum and Solana dominate exchange activity, fueled by their thriving DeFi ecosystems. Ethereum has long maintained its top position, with the largest DeFi ecosystem boasting nearly $60B in TVL. Its financial applications have demonstrated remarkable resilience, withstanding multiple market challenges since 2020. In addition, Ethereum has been contributing almost 50% of all decentralized exchange (DEX) volume through the first three quarters of the year, until Solana flipped the script, as illustrated in Figure 4.
In fact, Solana has recently outpaced Ethereum across multiple metrics. For example, Solana’s DEX trading volume exceeded Ethereum’s by $40B in November, while its weekly DEX trading volume eclipsed Ethereum and all its Layer 2s combined during the final week of October. Additionally, three out of the top ten revenue-generating applications now operate on the Solana network. Notably, the Solana-based DEX Radyium generated $29B in trading volume over the last week, a 45% difference compared to Uniswap’s $20B. Furthermore, Solana-based platforms now account for three of the top ten DEXs, commanding over 40% of the total 24-hour trading volume across the entire crypto ecosystem.
Finally, while TON currently reports lower DEX volume and an underdeveloped DeFi ecosystem, its focus on simpler use cases has kept its TVL relatively modest. However, the upcoming Curve integration is expected to drive significant growth by enhancing stablecoin liquidity. Additionally, TON recently launched the testnet version of its bridging solution, enabling native Bitcoin transfers to its network. This breakthrough positions TON to tap into a vastly larger market, leveraging the $1.3T in dormant BTC.
Fees Generated
Figure 5 – Fees Generated by Smart-Contract Platforms in 2024
Source: Artemis, 21Shares
TON stands out among emerging platforms with its substantial network fees, driven by Telegram’s expansive Mini App ecosystem. This goes beyond crypto applications, integrating traditional services like ride-hailing and e-commerce, where TON-based assets are used for payments. Additionally, Telegram-centric offerings such as competitively priced global eSIMs, VPN solutions, and decentralized storage broaden its appeal, particularly to non-crypto-native users. All in all, this places TON as the third-highest fee-generating network compared to the other networks, which can be seen in Figure 8.
Alternatively, Solana has established itself as a fee-generating powerhouse, as depicted above in, Figure 5 with many leading dApps leveraging its high-speed, cost-effective blockchain. For example, the no-code memecoin creator platform Pump.fun has generated $220M in fees and attracted 150K users. Moreover, Solana-based protocols account for 50% of the top 15 fee-generating applications across all blockchains. Notably, trading bots Photon and BonkBot earn a combined $75M monthly, while Radium and staking provider Jito contribute $300M, collectively. This positioned Solana to currently generate 110% of Ethereum’s real economic value.
Finally, Ethereum’s recent Dencun upgrade led to a 90% reduction in L2 transaction costs. The upgrade introduced blobspace, an efficient data storage mechanism for L2 solutions. As this new system gains traction and approaches capacity, L2 transaction costs will gradually increase. This trend, already becoming apparent as shown below in Figure 6, suggests a potential resurgence in Ethereum’s mainnet revenue in the coming months.
Figure 6 – Ethereum Average Blob Count Per Block
Source: Dune Analytics, 21Shares
Total Value Locked
To recap, TVL serves as a crucial metric for financial ecosystems in the crypto space, analogous to assets under management in traditional finance.
Figure 7 – Total Value Locked in Smart-Contract Platforms in 2024
Source: Artemis, 21Shares
Ethereum, as the pioneer of DeFi, unsurprisingly maintains the largest TVL among all networks. However, the landscape is evolving rapidly.
Solana has emerged as a significant player, now commanding nearly 10% of DeFi’s TVL. This growth can be attributed to its seamless integration with traditional finance, expanding tokenization sector, and proliferation of payment-related use cases, as well as the surging maturity of its DeFi ecosystem.
Meanwhile, Avalanche continues to hold a substantial TVL, primarily due to its innovative subnet model that empowers businesses to create customizable networks with unprecedented control and flexibility. Consequently, Avalanche has become a hub for tokenization projects and institutional financial applications, both live and in development, as its network design effectively meets the business and privacy needs essential for TradFi.
In conclusion, these metrics provide a comprehensive view of the current standing and performance of various layer-1 blockchains. As seen in Figure 8, these platforms illustrate the diversity in blockchain usage patterns and provide insight into how each chain is positioned to compete in the landscape of blockchain-based applications. We believe there will not be “one chain to rule them all” and instead we will see a multi-chain future where certain chains are used over others for specific use cases.
Figure 8 – Summary of Key Metrics Across Smart-Contract Platforms
Source: Artemis, 21Shares
What’s happening this week?
Research Newsletter
Each week the 21Shares Research team will publish our data-driven insights into the crypto asset world through this newsletter. Please direct any comments, questions, and words of feedback to research@21shares.com
Disclaimer
The information provided does not constitute a prospectus or other offering material and does not contain or constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of any offer to buy securities in any jurisdiction. Some of the information published herein may contain forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties and that actual results may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors. The information contained herein may not be considered as economic, legal, tax or other advice and users are cautioned to base investment decisions or other decisions solely on the content hereof.
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