Layer-1 coins

315 coins #4 Page 2

A layer-1 coin is the native coin of a blockchain. More

# Coins Price Market cap 24h
51 Arweave AR $ 3.78
$ 247.87M
$ 247.87 million
-3.18%
52 eCash XEC $ 0.0000117
$ 233.66M
$ 233.66 million
-1.19%
53 Terra Classic LUNC $ 0.0000424
$ 232.36M
$ 232.36 million
-1.29%
54 THORChain RUNE $ 0.580
$ 203.62M
$ 203.62 million
+0.04%
55 0G 0G $ 0.903
$ 192.53M
$ 192.53 million
-7.67%
56 MultiversX EGLD $ 5.91
$ 171.89M
$ 171.89 million
-5.02%
57 Concordium CCD $ 0.0134
$ 151.80M
$ 151.80 million
+0.14%
58 Flow FLOW $ 0.0913
$ 150.09M
$ 150.09 million
-0.54%
59 Kusama KSM $ 7.68
$ 135.18M
$ 135.18 million
-2.23%
60 Akash AKT $ 0.414
$ 118.33M
$ 118.33 million
-2.18%
61 KUB Coin KUB $ 1.26
$ 111.83M
$ 111.83 million
-0.35%
62 DigiByte DGB $ 0.00589
$ 106.43M
$ 106.43 million
-2.06%
63 Mina Protocol Token MINA $ 0.0831
$ 105.60M
$ 105.60 million
-1.91%
64 Ronin RON $ 0.140
$ 101.55M
$ 101.55 million
-0.64%
65 Zilliqa ZIL $ 0.00517
$ 101.55M
$ 101.55 million
-0.23%
66 Verge XVG $ 0.00579
$ 95.77M
$ 95.77 million
+1.12%
67 Nano XNO $ 0.716
$ 95.43M
$ 95.43 million
-2.27%
68 ALEO ALEO $ 0.120
$ 95.06M
$ 95.06 million
-1.85%
69 Siacoin SC $ 0.00168
$ 94.39M
$ 94.39 million
-0.93%
70 Irys IRYS $ 0.0470
$ 94.05M
$ 94.05 million
+5.88%
71 ZetaChain ZETA $ 0.0755
$ 92.13M
$ 92.13 million
-1.44%
72 QUBIC QUBIC $ 0.0₆687
$ 90.84M
$ 90.84 million
-4.75%
73 UChain UCN $ 1,794.68
$ 89.73M
$ 89.73 million
+0.15%
74 Astar ASTR $ 0.0108
$ 89.58M
$ 89.58 million
+0.67%
75 Waves WAVES $ 0.702
$ 84.25M
$ 84.25 million
-1.01%
76 Berachain BERA $ 0.591
$ 82.09M
$ 82.09 million
-3.42%
77 Axelar AXL $ 0.0739
$ 81.38M
$ 81.38 million
-3.87%
78 Venom VENOM $ 0.0380
$ 80.83M
$ 80.83 million
-1.78%
79 XYO Network XYO $ 0.00576
$ 80.31M
$ 80.31 million
-2.77%
80 VANA VANA $ 2.38
$ 73.32M
$ 73.32 million
-0.71%
81 Chia Network XCH $ 5.01
$ 73.23M
$ 73.23 million
-2.72%
82 Celo CELO $ 0.122
$ 72.06M
$ 72.06 million
-2.45%
83 Casper CSPR $ 0.00506
$ 69.49M
$ 69.49 million
+4.54%
84 Paycoin PCI $ 0.0692
$ 68.50M
$ 68.50 million
-0.55%
85 Proton XPR $ 0.00329
$ 65.83M
$ 65.83 million
+1.00%
86 Energy Web Token EWT $ 0.776
$ 64.90M
$ 64.90 million
-1.14%
87 Ardor ARDR $ 0.0636
$ 63.51M
$ 63.51 million
+1.50%
88 ICON ICX $ 0.0582
$ 63.33M
$ 63.33 million
-0.75%
89 EthereumPoW ETHW $ 0.566
$ 61.09M
$ 61.09 million
-2.03%
90 Cysic CYS $ 0.366
$ 58.87M
$ 58.87 million
+1.93%
91 IOST IOST $ 0.00194
$ 58.53M
$ 58.53 million
+0.21%
92 Apertum APTM $ 0.791
$ 57.18M
$ 57.18 million
-3.43%
93 COTI COTI $ 0.0215
$ 55.54M
$ 55.54 million
-2.20%
94 ARK ARK $ 0.286
$ 55.12M
$ 55.12 million
+0.66%
95 Hive HIVE $ 0.106
$ 53.96M
$ 53.96 million
+1.39%
96 Polymesh POLYX $ 0.0604
$ 50.61M
$ 50.61 million
-1.52%
97 Xertra STRAX $ 0.0241
$ 49.24M
$ 49.24 million
+6.44%
98 Shentu CTK $ 0.296
$ 45.66M
$ 45.66 million
-5.56%
99 Biconomy BICO $ 0.0455
$ 45.54M
$ 45.54 million
-2.21%
100 Flux FLUX $ 0.108
$ 44.47M
$ 44.47 million
-2.40%

Trending Layer-1 coins

Top gainers

Coins Price Market cap 24h
Taraxa TARA $ 0.000504
$ 3.04M
$ 3.04 million
+15.66%
GUNZ GUN $ 0.0214
$ 18.63M
$ 18.63 million
+8.96%
Alephium ALPH $ 0.118
$ 14.77M
$ 14.77 million
+7.63%
Matchain MAT $ 0.142
$ 8.50M
$ 8.50 million
+7.44%
Xertra STRAX $ 0.0241
$ 49.24M
$ 49.24 million
+6.44%
All gainers

What are Layer-1 coins?

Layer-1 coins are the native cryptocurrencies of base-layer blockchains that validate transactions, secure the network, and pay for gas without relying on another chain. Examples include BTC (Bitcoin), ETH (Ethereum), SOL (Solana), AVAX (Avalanche), and ADA (Cardano). These networks provide the final settlement layer for all activity built on top.

Quick Facts

  • Settlement layer: All transactions finalize on-chain; no external network needed.
  • Consensus: Proof-of-Work (Bitcoin), Proof-of-Stake (Ethereum, Cardano, Avalanche), or hybrid variants.
  • Gas currency: Fees are paid in the native coin; demand for block space drives coin value.
  • Trilemma trade-off: Early L-1s prioritized decentralization + security over speed; newer chains add sharding, subnets, or faster finality to scale.
  • Scalability helpers: Lightning (BTC), rollups (ETH), subnets (AVAX), shards (SOL) are Layer-2 or off-chain fixes.

Core Components

  1. Block production – miners/validators create blocks and confirm transactions.
  2. Transaction finality – once included, blocks are immutable.
  3. Native assets – coins pay fees and reward validators; tokens (ERC-20, SPL, etc.) ride on top.
  4. Security model – consensus + cryptography protect against double-spend and re-orgs.
  5. Optional sharding – splits the network into parallel shards to raise throughput (Ethereum 2.0, Near, Elrond).

Top Layer-1 Coins (Illustrative)

Coin Chain Consensus TPS (claimed) L2 Helpers
BTC Bitcoin PoW ~7 Lightning, Liquid, Stacks
ETH Ethereum PoS ~15 Arbitrum, Optimism, zkSync
SOL Solana PoH + PoS ~65k Solana Pay, rollups in dev
AVAX Avalanche Avalanche PoS ~4.5k Subnets, Avalanche Bridge
ADA Cardano Ouroboros PoS ~250 Hydra, Milkomeda sidechains
DOT Polkadot NPoS ~1k Parachains, bridges
NEAR Near Nightshade PoS ~100k Shards, Aurora EVM

Benefits

  • Final settlement: Transactions are immutable once confirmed.
  • High liquidity: Native coins trade on every major CEX and DEX.
  • Ecosystem anchor: DeFi, NFTs, DAOs all settle gas in the L-1 coin.
  • Store-of-value narrative: BTC and ETH are viewed as digital commodities/collateral.
  • Validator rewards: Staking yields attract long-term holders and secure the chain.

Limitations

  • Scalability trilemma: increasing throughput often sacrifices decentralization or security.
  • High fees during congestion: Bitcoin and Ethereum gas can spike under heavy load.
  • Energy use (PoW): Bitcoin’s mining power draws environmental criticism.
  • Upgrade complexity: hard forks require consensus; changes are slow and contentious.
  • Competition: new L-1s launch frequently, diluting liquidity and developer attention.

Layer-1 vs Layer-2

Layer Purpose Scalability Tools
L-1 Final settlement, security Bigger blocks, new consensus, sharding
L-2 Speed & cheap fees Rollups, state channels, sidechains, subnets

Final Thoughts

Layer-1 coins are the bedrock of crypto — secure, liquid, and battle-tested — but most need Layer-2 help to scale. Evaluate use-case, consensus design, developer activity, and roadmap before buying. For a live list, filter Coinranking by “layer-1” and sort by market cap, volume, or recent performance.

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