Top Blockchain Platforms of 2022

The crypto market has seen many projects come and go. Surprisingly, only 20% of the projects that existed in 2017 survived the market downtrend that occurred the following year. This might be mind-boggling, but if you look deeply, you will realize it is only normal given that most of these projects are experimental, and trying to bring about ideas that do not fit or are ahead of their times. Scams and copycat projects were also all too common back then.

Given the many issues that plague crypto and the financial sector as a whole, the projects that are gaining traction lately are those that offer solutions to the many problems that exist, such as scalability, interoperability, and so on. Projects providing tools to build Web3 applications are also becoming more popular as we move towards the age of the metaverse.

Also Check:

Dual Token Models in Blockchain Gaming

The State of Cosmos

Is a Multi-Chain Ecosystem the Future of Blockchain?

Top Blockchain Platforms of 2022

The crypto market boasts over 18,000 projects, and you can bet there are plenty of good ones out there. This piece seeks to compare a few popular projects and outline the unique functionalities that are helping them stand out in 2022.

Solana

Launched in 2020, Solana has managed to become the 8th largest cryptocurrency by market cap thanks to the growing popularity of the project. The protocol is a highly functional open-source project that uses blockchain technology to deliver DeFi solutions. The protocol facilitates dApp creation by introducing a proof-of-history (PoH) consensus combined with the blockchain's underlying proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus. Thanks to PoH, Solana is highly scalable, boosting its usability with shorter processing times compared to existing protocols such as Ethereum. 

Terra

Given the importance of stablecoins within the crypto ecosystem, it is only fair that Terra has become quite popular within the crypto market. LUNA is currently the 9th largest cryptocurrency by market cap, with most gains coming over the past year. Terra serves as a blockchain protocol that uses fiat pegged stablecoins to power price-stable global payment systems. According to its whitepaper, the project combines the price stability and wide adoption of fiat currencies with the censorship resistance of Bitcoin to offer fast and affordable settlements.

Avalanche

The growth of the DeFi sector has seen developers seek protocols that allow for the creation of faster and cheaper applications. The protocol boosts a higher transaction output of up to 6,500 TP/s compared to Ethereum and does not compromise on scalability. This explains why Avalanche has gained so much attention lately, managing to become the 10th largest cryptocurrency by market cap.

Polygon

Polygon is the first well-structured, easy-to-use platform for scaling Ethereum and infrastructure development. At its core, the Polygon SDK is a modular, flexible framework that supports multiple types of applications. Given the scalability issues that plague the crypto space, it is only fitting that Polygon, previously Matic Network, has become so popular over the past few months.

Near Protocol

Near is one of the fastest-growing crypto projects over the past year. The protocol aims to be an on-ramp for millions of people to join the Web3 revolution. The protocol is a layer-one blockchain project designed as a community-run cloud computing platform. This helps eliminate some of the limitations bogging competing blockchains, such as low transaction speeds, low throughput, and poor interoperability. This creates the perfect environment for dApp development.

Fantom

This is another project that has seen fast growth over the past few months. To give you some perspective, the token has grown by over 94,000% since its all-time low two years ago. Fantom operates as a decentralized and open-source layer-1 blockchain that is powered by the Lachesis consensus mechanism. The proof-of-stake mechanism allows for quick transactions that are secure and scalable. Many within the crypto community view the project as an alternative to Ethereum.

Hedera

Hedera has seen increased attention over the past few months, helping its ROI grow by over 2,000% since its all-time low. The protocol is a sustainable, enterprise-grade public network for the decentralized economy, allowing individuals and businesses to create powerful dApps. It is also designed to be a fairer, more efficient system that eliminates some of the limitations that older blockchain-based platforms face, such as slow performance and instability. Unlike other protocols on this list, this project is not built on top of a conventional blockchain. Instead, it introduces an entirely novel type of distributed ledger technology known as Hashgraph.