Must-See Layer-1 Blockchains in 2025: Who Is the Real "Infrastructure"?

Question

When it comes to public chains, many people only know ETH and BTC, but in fact, quite a few strong contenders have emerged in the past two years. Today, let’s talk about 15 Layer-1 projects worth watching from three perspectives: market cap, TVL, and growth potential.

What is Layer-1?

Simply put, Layer-1 is the base mainnet—where transactions are ultimately confirmed and assets are finally settled. Unlike Layer-2, which depends on other chains, Layer-1 is independent, with its own consensus mechanism and security model.

Core Advantages of Layer-1

1. Strong independence — Not reliant on other systems, transactions and smart contracts execute autonomously

2. Secure and reliable — No single point of failure risk, data is permanently written on-chain and cannot be tampered with

3. Active ecosystem — Native tokens have real utility in the network (paying gas, governance, staking)

4. Pronounced network effect — The more users, the higher the value; the more developers, the richer the applications

15 Layer-1 Projects Worth Watching

🚀 High Growth Monsters

Sei: +6000% | Market Cap $137M | TVL $27M
A high-speed chain built specifically for DeFi, with a built-in order book engine optimized for DEX latency. The ecosystem fund has reached $120M, focusing on the Asian market. This surge shows the market’s growing recognition of specialized public chains.

ZetaChain: +133% | Market Cap $325M | TVL $3.25M
A true “omnichain” concept—able to connect to any public chain, regardless of the other chain’s architecture. The testnet already has 10M+ active users from 100+ countries and 6.3M+ cross-chain transactions, reflecting its future potential.

Kaspa: +257% | Market Cap $2.7B | No TVL Data
Uses GHOSTDAG consensus, with fast block times and confirmations. After switching from GoLang to Rust, transaction throughput skyrocketed, and KAS price soared 1800% last year. Growth driven by technical innovation.

💰 Market Cap Giants

Bitcoin: +108% | Market Cap $1.2T | TVL $1.1B
No need for much explanation—big brother’s digital gold status is unshakable. In 2023, Ordinals enabled on-chain NFT minting, and inscription projects (ORDI, SATS, etc.) revitalized the BTC ecosystem. Layer-2 solutions (like Stacks) are also breaking BTC’s smart contract ceiling.

Ethereum: +47% | Market Cap $371B | TVL $49B
The largest developer community, over 3,000 active dApps, highest market cap and TVL—ETH is king. Layer-2 solutions (rollups) are mature, and 2024 will focus on further optimizing scalability.

BNB Chain: +64% | Market Cap $82B | TVL $5.2B
Binance’s backing brings natural exchange traffic. With 1,300+ dApps, it offers faster and cheaper transactions than ETH. Expect accelerated Layer-2 integration and cross-chain bridging in 2024.

🎯 Ecosystem Stars

Solana: +464% | Market Cap $61B | TVL $3.46B
A model of high throughput and low cost. Proof of History consensus enables extremely high TPS. Behind this growth is an ecosystem explosion—memecoin waves, top DeFi protocols like Marinade/Jito, and apps like STEPN. Node support from Google and AWS also strengthens decentralization.

Avalanche: +83% | Market Cap $13.4B | TVL $1.5B
The subnet model is interesting, allowing custom consensus and rules. In 2023, ASC-20 inscriptions drew huge gas fees ($13.8M in five days) and set a new daily transaction record (2.3M+). JP Morgan partnership adds extra points.

Polkadot: -0.39% | Market Cap $9.6B | TVL $230M
A pioneer in multichain interoperability, the IBC protocol enables trusted cross-chain interaction. The parachain and Relay Chain design are innovative, and Polkadot 2.0 promises to upgrade scalability and governance. Staking demand up 49%, showing strong community confidence.

The Open Network(TON): +169% | Market Cap $21.9B | TVL $145M
Built on Telegram’s 200M+ user base. In 2024, Telegram will share 50% of ad revenue with channel owners, paid directly in TON—a real-world application scenario. If Telegram IPOs successfully, TON’s potential could be huge.

📈 Rising Stars

Aptos: -27% | Market Cap $3.8B | TVL $342M
The combination of Move language and parallel execution engine boosts security and TPS. Backed by Tiger Global and PayPal Ventures with $400M+ in funding, and working with Sushi, Coinbase Pay, and Microsoft to expand use cases.

Sui: -73% | Market Cap $1.54B | TVL $557M
Token price dropped, but the ecosystem is actively expanding—zkLogin improves privacy, daily transaction volume once exceeded 65.8M, and Turbos DEX’s TurboStar incubator is nurturing new projects. The underlying tech remains solid.

Internet Computer: +112% | Market Cap $5.7B | TVL $88M
Big ambition—to reinvent the internet as decentralized. Capable of running full systems on-chain, supporting Websocket real-time apps, direct Web 2.0 API calls, and deep integration with Bitcoin. The ecosystem includes social and NFT platforms, but needs time to prove itself.

🔗 Ecosystem Aggregators

Cosmos: -36% | Market Cap $3.1B | TVL $12.5M
IBC (Inter-Blockchain Communication) tech gives each chain sovereignty but enables interoperability. Interchain Security boosts security for small chains, while Liquid Staking and NFT modules expand functionality. dYdX and Noble’s USDC integration show major apps are moving to Cosmos.

Kava: -30% | Market Cap $704M | TVL $193M
Unique “Co-Chain” design—part of the Cosmos SDK ecosystem, with an EVM-compatible layer. Native USDX stablecoin, KAVA supply reform, and a $300M community treasury all reduce risk. The user base is small but growing fast.

Layer-1 vs Layer-2: Who Wins?

This isn’t a zero-sum game—it’s a symbiotic relationship:

Layer-1 is the foundation — Provides ultimate security and decentralization
Layer-2 is the accelerator — Uses rollups and other tech to lower gas and increase speed, but ultimately settles on Layer-1
The future is collaboration — L1 sharding and L2 zk rollups will complement each other to solve the scalability trilemma together

How to Choose?

Depends on your needs:

Want security + big ecosystem? → BTC, ETH

Want high speed + low fees? → Solana, Avalanche

Want cross-chain interoperability? → Cosmos, ZetaChain, Polkadot

Want DeFi-specialized chain? → Sei

Want new opportunities? → Kaspa, TON, Aptos (but higher risk)

Competition among Layer-1s will be even fiercer in 2025, but that’s good for the ecosystem—faster tech iteration, richer applications, and better user experience.