Early-stage fundraising data are from ICO Drops<\/a>; total value locked (TVL) figures are from DeFiLlama<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n In 2014, when crypto was synonymous with bitcoin, Ethereum\u2019s co-founders held a historic ICO<\/a>. From 22 July to 2 September the project raised<\/a> 31,591 BTC (then about $18.6m). Investors<\/a> bought the offered ETH at an average price of $0.31.<\/p>\n After the TGE<\/a> in 2015, Ethereum\u2019s concept of a \u201cworld computer\u201d powered by smart contracts<\/a> looked like a breakthrough. Yet low throughput, a new programming language (Solidity), unfamiliar DAO<\/a> governance and UX<\/span> hindered adoption. Early rivals rushed in.<\/p>\n Neo X (formerly NEO)<\/strong><\/p>\n Launch:<\/strong> 2016<\/p>\n Funds raised:<\/strong> first public-sale round in October 2015 \u2014 $560,000; after the 2016 TGE \u2014 an additional $4.5m<\/p>\n Founded in 2014 as Antshares, the project rebranded to NEO and continued as a layer\u20111 blockchain. Marketed as the \u201cChinese Ethereum\u201d, it leaned into Solidity\u2019s niche appeal and instead let developers write smart contracts in C# and Java.<\/p>\n In 2023, facing thin liquidity, the team took a step<\/a> toward Ethereum\u2019s orbit. A year later it launched<\/a> the Neo X EVM<\/a> mainnet.<\/p>\n Cardano<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Launch:<\/strong> 2017<\/p>\n Funds raised:<\/strong> ~$62m<\/p>\n Created by Ethereum co-founder Charles Hoskinson<\/a>, Cardano embraced an academic approach with the PoS<\/a> consensus Ouroboros. Its L1 extended the UTXO<\/span> model to support smart contracts (EUTXO). The protocol pitched itself as \u201cthe only PoS family member with mathematically proven security\u201d.<\/p>\n In 2024 the project faced<\/a> a wave of criticism hinting at the ecosystem\u2019s \u201cdeath\u201d. Hoskinson replied with \u201cmajor upgrades\u201d aimed chiefly at a transition<\/a> to decentralised governance.<\/p>\n Cardano\u2019s focus areas include government initiatives, enterprise solutions, RWA<\/a> and digital identity.<\/p>\n Tezos<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Launch:<\/strong> 2017<\/p>\n Funds raised:<\/strong> ~$242m before TGE<\/p>\n Flush with ICO cash, Tezos sought to outmanoeuvre rivals amid the post\u2013The DAO hard\u2011fork rifts by introducing on\u2011chain, vote\u2011based governance. Despite the innovation and war chest, it failed to hold ground after the \u201cDeFi summer\u201d ended in 2022. As of April 2026 the network ranks 51st by TVL ($28.14m).<\/p>\n In 2026 a major Tezos X upgrade is planned<\/a>. The team is shifting from a monolithic L1 toward a rollup ecosystem built on modular architecture. The EVM\u2011compatible Etherlink targets closer alignment with Ethereum, a move away from the niche Michelson language, and RWA\/DeFi for business.<\/p>\n Vaulta (formerly <\/strong>EOS<\/strong><\/a>)<\/strong><\/p>\n Launch:<\/strong> 2017<\/p>\n Funds raised:<\/strong> an industry record \u2014 over $4bn during the ICO<\/p>\n The EOS token sale ran for about a year\u2014from 26 June 2017 to 1 June 2018. Block.one pitched it as a high\u2011throughput operating system with zero fees, enabled by DPoS<\/span>. Designed by EOS co\u2011founder Dan Larimer<\/a>, the model relied on 21 validators and a complex governance structure. The lack of decentralisation drew criticism, as did questions about the integrity<\/a> of the ICO<\/a>.<\/p>\n In 2022 Block.one was accused of underfunding protocol development. Larimer supported<\/a> the community\u2019s effort to regain control of a $4.2bn treasury. Prolonged corporate lawsuits<\/a> between the EOS Network Foundation and Block.one ultimately pushed the former to rebrand<\/a>. A strategic pivot to Web3<\/a> banking under the new name Vaulta followed in 2025.<\/p>\n TRON<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Launch:<\/strong> 2017<\/p>\n Funds raised:<\/strong> ~$78m before TGE<\/p>\n Self\u2011styled as an \u201cEthereum killer\u201d, TRX initially launched as an ERC-20<\/a> token before migrating to its own chain.<\/p>\n The protocol borrowed Ethereum Foundation\u2019s codebase and EOS\u2019s DPoS consensus. For that, Vitalik Buterin publicly accused<\/a> TRON founder Justin Sun<\/a> of plagiarism.<\/p>\n Its trump card was integrating USDT<\/a>. High speed and low fees made the chain one of the most popular<\/a> rails for the stablecoin.<\/p>\n Ethereum steadily became DeFi\u2019s home base. Between 2019 and 2021 average fees rose<\/a> to $5\u201320 and in peak periods exceeded<\/a> $60. Costs opened a flank that a new crop of VC\u2011funded L1s exploited in their marketing.<\/p>\n Algorand<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Launch:<\/strong> 2017 (mainnet and TGE in 2019)<\/p>\n Funds raised:<\/strong> ~$126m<\/p>\n The founder\u2014 a Turing Award laureate<\/span>, Silvio Micali \u2014 promised to solve the \u201cblockchain trilemma<\/a>\u201d with Pure Proof\u2011of\u2011Stake.<\/p>\n The engineering was meticulous; tokenomics and investor psychology, early on, were not.<\/p>\n Validator full nodes (relay nodes) became a closed club run by universities and corporations sponsored by the Algorand Foundation.<\/p>\n Matters worsened with cyclical investor sell\u2011offs (accelerated vesting<\/a>) and heavy marketing<\/a> spend.<\/p>\n By 2026 many flaws had been addressed, but lost time dented the protocol\u2019s DeFi standing. According to DeFiLlama<\/a>, as of April 2026 the platform\u2019s 30\u2011day fee revenue was $408.<\/p>\n Algorand continues to focus on RWA (real\u2011estate tokenisation via Lofty<\/a>), and enterprise and government solutions. In 2025 the blockchain was used to create<\/a> a digital health passport for women in India.<\/p>\n Solana<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Launch:<\/strong> 2020<\/p>\n Funds raised:<\/strong> ~$360m (of which ~$314m after the 2021 TGE)<\/p>\n Launching into \u201cDeFi summer\u201d, Solana pitched itself as a high-speed network<\/a> with sub\u2011cent transactions enabled by Proof\u2011of\u2011History (PoH).<\/p>\n Buoyed by post\u2011TGE capital, the team stayed on\u2011trend: close ties<\/a> with FTX, the NFT<\/a> boom, a chain for DePIN<\/a> projects, a crypto smartphone<\/a>, RWA<\/a>. It also subsidised user growth and offered developers funding for development<\/a>.<\/p>\n The rapid rise of the SOL token<\/a>, speed and cheap transactions drove adoption across DeFi\u2014even frequent outages<\/a> did not deter users.<\/p>\n At the peak of the meme\u2011coin trend, Solana became<\/a> a liquidity centre for that asset class. Later, that spurred an outflow<\/a> of traders amid more frequent fraud<\/a>.<\/p>\n In 2026 the platform entered<\/a> the top three by USDT transfer count.<\/p>\n Polkadot<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Launch:<\/strong> 2020<\/p>\n Funds raised:<\/strong> ~$248m (of which ~$205m before TGE)<\/p>\n Addressing Ethereum\u2019s scaling challenge, co\u2011founder Gavin Wood, after his departure<\/a>, proposed<\/a> a Layer\u20110 design with parachains sharing the security of a central relay.<\/p>\n Thanks to a decentralised validator set, Polkadot has the highest Nakamoto coefficient<\/a>\u2014123, as of<\/a> April 2026.<\/p>\n As elsewhere, strong technology without fitting tokenomics, incentives and marketing did not lead<\/a> to a fair fight with Ethereum.<\/p>\n The network has dropped rigid parachain\u2011lease auctions, now targeting B2B and bespoke enterprise chains. In late 2025 it posted<\/a> its first quarterly profit in three years.<\/p>\n BNB Chain (formerly Binance Smart Chain, BSC)<\/strong><\/p>\n Launch:<\/strong> 2020<\/p>\n Funds raised:<\/strong> self\u2011funded by Binance<\/p>\n Binance\u2019s corporate fork of Ethereum sacrificed<\/a> decentralisation for low fees. The EVM\u2011compatible network targets DeFi, meme\u2011coin trading, gaming and popular verticals, including RWA.<\/p>\n The project is one of the DeFi leaders<\/a> and a serious challenger to Ethereum. Its ecosystem includes top apps: the DEX<\/span> PancakeSwap<\/a>, the lending protocol Venus<\/a>, and RWA platforms Securitize and Circle USYC.<\/p>\n Avalanche<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Launch:<\/strong> 2020<\/p>\n Funds raised:<\/strong> ~$285m (of which ~$55m before TGE)<\/p>\n An architecture of three built\u2011in chains (X\u2011Chain, C\u2011Chain, P\u2011Chain) and a graph\u2011based consensus (DAG<\/a>) deliver instant finality and custom subnets.<\/p>\n The split isolates heavy smart\u2011contract compute from basic asset transfers and staking, protecting the network from critical overloads. Avalanche anticipated today\u2019s broad shift toward modular blockchains.<\/p>\n Its current strategy centres on institutional subnets, use in the public sector<\/a> and RWA<\/a>, courting traditional banks and funds.<\/p>\n NEAR Protocol<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Launch:<\/strong> 2020<\/p>\n Funds raised:<\/strong> ~$544m (of which ~$503m after TGE)<\/p>\n A bet on sharding<\/a> (Nightshade) and UX (human\u2011readable addresses) was meant to attract the masses. In practice, convenience and technology were not enough to win liquidity and developers.<\/p>\n Having stepped back from head\u2011on L1 competition, NEAR has become a hub for chain abstraction<\/a> and consumer AI apps, aiming for a seamless Web2\u2011like experience. A key tool is Chain Signatures<\/a>, which lets users control assets on other networks (including bitcoin and Ethereum) from a single NEAR account.<\/p>\n Internet Computer Protocol<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Launch:<\/strong> 2021<\/p>\n Funds raised:<\/strong> ~$167m before TGE<\/p>\n ICP began as an ambitious \u201ckiller of the centralised internet and Ethereum\u201d. Management promised to replace AWS<\/span> and host social networks on\u2011chain, but failed to cope with market manipulations, after which the ICP token fell 95%.<\/p>\n Today it is not an Ethereum rival, but a distinctive L1 serving as decentralised hosting for Web3 and enabling cross\u2011chain liquidity control without vulnerable bridges. The current focus is AI and decentralised cloud storage.<\/p>\n In February 2026 Pakistan\u2019s Digital Authority and DFINITY, ICP\u2019s core developer, signed<\/a> an MoU to build sovereign digital AI infrastructure\u2014keeping confidential data at home and reducing reliance on foreign cloud providers.<\/p>\n After Ethereum\u2019s transition<\/a> to Proof\u2011of\u2011Stake and a shift toward L2<\/a>, would\u2011be \u201ckillers\u201d pivoted to parallelisation and a speed race. The new wave of L1s includes:<\/p>\n Today, most boasts of surpassing Ethereum look na\u00efve. Its ecosystem has held the lead thanks to network effects, security and L2s that neutralised high fees.<\/p>\n TRON has overtaken Ethereum on a crucial metric: stablecoin transfer volume. Sun built a cheap payments rail for a fiat alternative\u2014worlds away from a decentralised \u201cworld computer\u201d.<\/p>\n According to Token Terminal, as of April 2026 TRON ranks first by revenue from transaction fees, well ahead of Ethereum, at $3.3bn<\/a>.<\/p>\nThe standard is born\u2014and early pretenders to the throne<\/h2>\n
![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/img-87294333880d2006-1941581177221719.webp\")
The DeFi era and the venture boom<\/h2>\n
Full speed to the graveyard<\/h2>\n
\n
![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/img-c8919b08f6340b4e-1941581233980140.webp\")
![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/img-8c387d82d7569b86-1941581291606366.webp\")