Ethereum Competitors and Layer-1 Solutions See Steady Growth in September

Competition among Layer 1 (L1) smart contract platforms has been intensifying over the past few months as traders and developers continue to embrace alternatives to the Ethereum network that offer faster transaction confirmation times and lower fees .

According to a recent report from Delphi Digital, the price of ethereum has remained relatively flat over the past month, while competitors such as Solana (SOL) and Fantom (FTM) have seen their prices rise by more than 200% over the same period.

Relative performance of L1 tokens over the past 30 days Source: Delphi Digital

One of the factors driving Fantom (FTM), Avalanche (AVAX) and Terra (LUNA) is the launch of various multi-million dollar incentive programs designed to attract developers, investors and new liquidity into their ecosystem.

These moves have sparked a flurry of new activity, as well as cross-chain transfers from the Ethereum network to layer-one projects, with Solana seeing the biggest gains so far.

Total value locked in top L1 protocols (USD) Source: Delphi Digital

Looking at individual applications residing on different blockchains, Avalanche-based DeFi protocol Trader Joe has seen the largest increase in TVL over the past seven days, with the protocol’s total value locked increasing by 57%.

Trader Joe’s Total Locked Value vs. Trading Volume Source: Token Terminal

L2 platform gas consumption increases

It’s not only Ethereum’s Layer 1 competitors that have seen increased activity over the past few months. The launch of some new layer 2 solutions and the airdrop of decentralized derivatives exchange dYdX (DYDX) has led to an increase in the gas consumption of layer 2 protocols.

L2 gas consumption as a percentage of total gas consumption Source: Delphi Digital

Data from Delphi Digital shows that the percentage of gas consumed by second-layer solutions is now above 1% after surging to as high as 2% in early September.

Thanks to a partnership with Starkware, the dYdX protocol, one of the early adopters of the second-layer technology, has seen its activity grow to new levels in recent weeks following the launch of the governance token DYDX, which on September 8, dYdX used before Users of the protocol airdropped DYDX tokens.

Total Locked Value vs. Trading Volume on dYdX Source: Token Terminal

Since releasing the airdrop rewards, dYdX’s TVL has increased from $422 million to $554 million, and its 24-hour trading volume has climbed from $700 million to a whopping $2.4 billion.

Cointelegraph Chinese is a blockchain news information platform, and the information provided only represents the author's personal opinion, has nothing to do with the position of the Cointelegraph Chinese platform, and does not constitute any investment and financial advice. Readers are requested to establish correct currency concepts and investment concepts, and earnestly raise risk awareness. In view of the fact that China has not yet issued policies and regulations related to digital assets, users in mainland China are advised to be cautious in digital currency investment.