Which Layer 1's outperform this next bull run?
Which Layer 1's outperform this next bull run?
Bitcoin may have bottomed, a good time to be eyeing layer 1 protocols.
A lot has been happening in the crypto space, with tons of NFT, GameFi, and Metaverse projects still coming out weekly. But all of these projects have to build on one blockchain or another, and some of the best investments can be in “operating systems”, like those in Web2 ie. Windows and Apple, and Google and their respective app-stores that continue to grow even now and have had huge long term gains for investors who sit on them for 10+ years.
So I continue my research on Layer 1 protocols, the Web3 version of these great investments of the .com era. Today let’s discuss one large cap, one mid cap, and one micro cap project, as well as catching up on industry news.
Most blockchains now have $100m+ funds to provide grants for startups, incentivizing them to develop their apps to grow the ecosystems. EOS, NEAR, Fantom, Cosmos, Waves, Ethereum, Solana, even Ripple, and the list goes on.
My recent founder discussions focus on the accelerator funds developed by EOS and Waves blockchains, and then a microcap newer layer 1 protocol Geeq working on multi-chain solution which is currently a fraction of the size of these giants.
Firstly for our large cap discussion, I spoke with Yves La Rose, who is heading the EOS Network Foundation, to discuss the potential explosive growth of EOS, the ongoing grants, funding, and help they are providing startups moving onto EOS, the explosion in GameFi on EOS, the incoming EVM compatibility and IBC Inter-blockchain Communication Layer for full blockchain interoperability (this parts big) and more. ICYMI, EOS did one of the largest ICO’s ever in 2017, raising over $4 Billion.
Currently EOS is at a $1.2B market cap. However, in the highs of May 2021, the market cap was $13B. a 10x potential to return to there and potentially much higher than that in the next cycle.
Secondly, let’s talk about Waves. A mid-cap layer 1 protocol that has been around since even before EOS (2016!) and has huge potential with their new Waves Labs accelerator arm.
As a newsletter subscriber, you’re getting first access to this Waves Labs interview, as it is not released yet to the public! It’s set to be released next week.
To learn more about Waves I spoke with Coleman Maher, Head of Ecosystem at Waves Labs, on the newer established marketing and growth arm of WAVES blockchain, why startups are moving onto WAVES, their grants and strategic investments, the GameFi ecosystem on Waves headed up by their most popular game Waves Ducks, Waves DEX and DeFi ecosystem that continues to grow, and more.
Currently Waves has a $620M market cap, making it the 84th biggest project in the blockchain industry. In May 2021 during the bull market highs, it reached a market cap of $5.4B, another potential 10x to return to this market cap and higher towards the next cycles.
Our last founder discussion for this episode is with Stephanie So, Co-Founder of Geeq, on their layer 1 multi-chain protocol building for mainstream adoption, why Layer 1's should focus on security and validation first instead of smart contracts.
Geeq is taking an approach similar to the Cardano blockchain, slowly and meticulously working on the core protocol before releasing smart contracts. After-all, almost all hacks in DeFi on Ethereum are from exploits in smart contract code, and the many shortcomings of current smart contract security.
Although it’s not as big as the giants of EOS and Waves, the project still looks very promising. Currently Coingecko shows GEEQ at a $3 million dollar market cap and it’s currently traded on Kucoin and major exchanges.
Other news that happened this week in crypto:
Nomad Bridge was exploited for $190m, allowing any user to copy paste a script and withdraw funds without authorization.
Most of Solana's $10.5B+ TVL DeFi Value locked (at its peak) was faked in a "wash trading" like scenario where two brothers pretending to be 10+ dev accounts, stacking DeFi protocols on top of each other and sharing value locked between them.
Solana wallets like Phantom and Slope on iOS had a vulnerability where unencrypted private keys caused over over $8m in SOL and USDC(SOL) to be stolen from everyday users wallets
A similar vulnerability was found in the some NEAR wallets, however nothing was compromised and it was solved.
Coinbase partnered with BlackRock, the multi-trillion dollar asset manager, to bring crypto custody to their institutional clients. COIN 0.00 skyrocketed from its all-time-lows of $53 to over $100.
Arthur Hayes releases a lengthy bullish article on his reasoning behind max buying ETH leading up to the ETH Merge: https://entrepreneurshandbook.co/max-bidding-7a1c56c1cd07
If you’re looking for more information on the ETH 2.0 Merge, watch our recent interview with CEO of MyEtherWallet, the 2nd half is entirely about the difference in ETH and ETH 2.0 and what to expect in the merge scheduled for next month:
That’s all for now. The next episode will include more information on the GameFi space and valuable NFT projects. The Gaming industry is currently in the very beginnings of integrating blockchain and I believe it will be exponential larger than the art industry joining NFTs.
Is there anything you want to hear more about in terms of cryptocurrency markets, protocols, dApps, interviews, industry news, and the like? Reply to this email and let me know!
Thanks for reading!
-Ashton Addison
CEO, Crypto Coin Show.