Top EVM Layer 1 to watch in 2022

Blockchain scalability has been a hot topic in the crypto industry for quite some time. As the Ethereum network is severely congested and transaction fees are skyrocketing, more and more EVM-compatible Layer 1 blockchains are on the market.

The article will take a look at some of the most popular and promising Layer 1 EVMs that are expected to make big strides in 2022 as the industry moves away from Ethereum.

Moon River (Kusama)

Moonriver is Moonbeam’s canary network (testnet) running on Polkadot and developed by the PureStake team. It is an EVM-compatible platform that allows developers to deploy smart contracts and dApps (decentralized applications) built for Ethereum to the Polkadot ecosystem.

All new code for Moonbeam will first be moved to Moonriver for testing and verification in real economic conditions, without the pressure of a large-cap network like Polkadot.

Moonriver won big in the second parachain auction on Kusama, raising over 205,000 KSM from Crowdloan, worth around $52.5 million at the time. The public interest in Moonriver can at least be explained by the community-centric approach of the platform. Unlike its Polkadot-based sister project, Moonriver dedicates the majority of its offering to the community – a total of 40% of MOVR offering is dedicated to community incentives. Another 30% of the supply will be distributed as a reward to those who contributed to the crowdloan. Neither Moonriver’s investors nor the team received a token allocation.

As of 2022, most of the Total Value (TVL) in Moonriver comes from the Ethereum Bridge. In second place are decentralized exchanges (DEXs), which account for 39.9% of the market share on the platform.

TVL by Category | Source: Footprint Analytics

Moonriver remains the most active parachain on Kusama, processing nearly 15 million transactions. By the end of 2021, the platform will have over 75 live integrations, over 380,000 wallets and over 1 million MOVRs locked in staking.

To date, over 3,000 ERC-20 tokens have been created on Moonriver, cementing the network’s position as a dominant force not only in the Kusama ecosystem, but also in the larger crypto ecosystem.

Avalanche C Chain (Avalanche)

As part of Avalanche’s integrated blockchain, the C-Chain is the network’s proprietary contract chain. C-Chain is essentially an Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) clone that allows developers to deploy smart contracts built for Ethereum.

C-Chain works in conjunction with two other blockchains, Exchange Chain and Platform Chain. Because each chain handles specialized tasks, the network becomes much faster and more scalable than blockchains, which run all processes on a single chain.

Avalanche’s broader goal is to become a global wealth exchange thanks to C-Chain. The chain coordinates the network’s validators, keeps track of active subnets (subnets), and facilitates the creation of new networks.

The fuel that powers Avalanche is the native utility token AVAX, which is interoperable between subnets and the mainnet. Avalanche community members can use tokens to become network validators. The token currently has a market cap of $22.19 billion.

Users who don’t want to use their AVAX tokens on the network can use them in dozens of major protocols launched on Avalanche. To date, over $11 billion in assets have been locked (TVL) in Avalanche via decentralized applications (dApps) such as Aave, Benqi, Trader Joe, Curve, and SushiSwap.

TVL belong Avalanche | Source: DeFi Llama

C-Chain becomes valuable in the Avalanche ecosystem through popular lending protocols. C-Chain is the “must have” chain on Avalanche for lending and makes up the bulk of Avalanche’s TVL.

All of these features have attracted a huge community closely associated with Avalanche. This takes both the token and its utility to the next level, and many believe the hype will continue well into 2022.

Aurora (NEAR protocol)

Aurora is an Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) created by the NEAR Protocol team. The network is designed as a turnkey solution for developers who want to run dApps on an Ethereum-compatible, high-throughput, scalable platform that is highly adaptable to future changes.

When the network runs on the NEAR protocol, it inherits the power provided. As a result, the network can not only offer extremely fast transactions, but also very cheaply. Another great advantage Aurora offers is the base currency. Unlike other EVM-compatible Layer 1 chains, Aurora’s base currency is Ethereum’s ETH.

Aurora Bridge (part of NEAR Rainbow Bridge) allows users to transfer their assets from Ethereum in a fully trusted environment.

Although Aurora uses the same team and technology as NEAR Protocol, this EVM is operated as an independent, self-funded initiative. The network is managed by the DAO, making it one of the few EVMs that leaves control of the network in the hands of the community.

In the first quarter of 2022, the network will introduce staking for the native token AURORA to bring real-world utility to the cryptocurrency. And with protocols like 1 Inch, Tape, ShowSwap, and DODO working on top of Aurora, the token has the potential to open up countless new possibilities for users.

Evmos (Cosmos)

Cosmos has had to wait the longest to achieve Ethereum compatibility, but Evmos, born in September 2021, has finally brought an EVM to the network.

Evmos is an application-agnostic chain that can interoperate with the Ethereum mainnet and any other environment compatible with BFT, EVM. An integrated chain using the Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC) protocol forms the basis of this compatibility, making it easy for users and developers to move values ​​between different chains.

The platform is the first IBC-compatible EVM chain on Cosmos, using the Cosmos SDK to provide users with the fast transaction aggregation, interaction and processing capabilities that Ethereum lacks. As such, Evmos can offer developers an EVM ecosystem rich enough that they can launch their Ethereum-based applications without having to rewrite any code.

This has the potential to significantly increase the number of projects streaming into the Cosmos network, thereby taking the Cosmos-native token ATOM to the next level. The same can happen with EVMOS (the platform’s native cryptocurrency) being dropped out of the air for all users who spent gas on about 10 different dApps on Ethereum and Cosmos as well as EVM bridges. Tokens will also be issued to victims of some of the most damaging carpet pulls in 2021, in an effort the company is dubbing “Rektdrop.”

Given the level of growth of platforms like Binance Smart Chain and Polygon after developing their own EVMs, it can be said that Evmos has the potential to bring Cosmos to the forefront of DeFi.

2022 will be the year of the EVM

The demand for Ethereum compatible chains has never been greater. As projects race for the highest throughput at the lowest fees, the above 4 EVMs will face many difficulties in 2022. Competition in the industry is intensifying and will be one of the few cryptocurrency industry.

Some say a “big player” platform like Avalanche will dominate the market, while others believe new entrants like Aurora will see the most growth. However, it’s still too early to say which of these EVMs will have the biggest impact this year.

What is certain, however, is that low fees and low latency will not be enough to make any of these Layer 1 EVMs the dominant force in the market. Other features like cross-chain interoperability and a good user interface will be the deciding factor in community engagement, and it is the community that decides how far any of these projects go.

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