New L1 Blockchains to Watch in 2023: A Top 5 List

Summary: 

• Five emergent L1 blockchains are spotlighted for addressing key issues like speed and scalability in the blockchain industry in 2023.
• Sui Network emphasizes swift, secure, and universally accessible digital asset ownership backed by $300M funding.
• Celestia offers modular scalability, separating data availability from execution, and recently attracted a $55M investment.
• Zetachain focuses on chain-agnostic interoperability and EVM-compatibility, supporting various cryptocurrencies.
• Fhenix introduces a confidential blockchain, utilizing fully homomorphic encryption, and recently secured $7.5M in seed funding.
• Linera propels scalability with its innovative microchains concept, having initially secured $12M in seed funding.

Solving Challenges in the Blockchain Industry 

As the blockchain industry expands, the thirst for quicker, more secure, and more efficient Layer 1 (L1) blockchains remains insatiable. 

Generally, L1 blockchains have been pivotal in facilitating transactions and securing the Decentralized Finance (DeFi) ecosystem but have encountered setbacks such as slow processing and high fees. 

However, there has been some notable progress in these flaws, and this piece sheds light on five emergent L1 blockchains, sparking innovation and optimism in 2023.

Sui Network: Harnessing Speed and Accessibility

Sui Network is a Layer 1 blockchain and smart contract platform that advocates for digital asset ownership that is swift, private, secure, and universally accessible. 

Distinctively characterized by its object-centric model, based on the Move programming language, the L1 blockchain champions parallel execution and sub-second finality, thereby enabling rich on-chain assets. Sui Network, powered by its impressive horizontally scalable processing and storage, provides unmatched speed at a minimal cost.

Mysten Labs, significantly contributing to Sui, was founded by a noteworthy team from Meta’s Novi Research, bearing notable accomplishments such as the Diem blockchain and Move programming language. Sui attracted $300M in funding in September 2022, establishing its mainnet on May 3 and recently achieving a new All Time High in Total Value Locked (TVL), amounting to 36.66M.

While its mainnet is live, it remains a relatively new player in the blockchain ecosystem. 

Celestia Blockchain: An Oasis of Modular Scalability

Celestia shines in the blockchain space with its modular architecture, cleverly segregating the data availability layer from the execution layer and offering a scalable solution without sacrificing security or decentralization. 

In simple terms, Celestia empowers anyone to deploy their own blockchain effortlessly, minimizing overhead and enabling dynamic scaling.

In October 2022, investors like Bain Capital Crypto and Polychain Capital led a significant fund raise, injecting $55 million into Celestia, reflecting a valuation of $1 billion. 

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Additionally, the protocol has offered its community a unique earning opportunity through an airdrop of 60 million TIA tokens, as reported by BSC News. Further, the blockchain platform recently introduced the Celestia Improvement Proposal (CIP) to facilitate the proposal of new features and document design choices.

Zetachain: The Interconnected L1 Frontier

Zetachain presents itself as a promising L1 blockchain, bringing chain-agnostic interoperability and offering EVM-compatibility, including support for Bitcoin, Dogecoin, Cosmos/IBC, and more. 

According to the protocol’s website, “it is An EVM-compatible L1 blockchain that connects everything: Build interoperable dApps that span any chain including Bitcoin; access all chains from one place.”

Its native capabilities enable developers to transmit data and value between any chains without necessitating asset wrapping. The platform is currently nurturing native smart contracts, which would empower developers to construct omnichain Decentralized Applications (dApps), coordinating funds across various chains.

According to reports, Zetachain is spearheaded by a founder with roots in Coinbase and Basic Attention Token (BAT) creators. Major market makers, top exchanges, and prominent protocol contributors also support the network. 

The blockchain platform successfully raised $27 million in funding on August 16, even while its mainnet remains in development, hosting numerous protocols on its testnet.

Fhenix Blockchain: The Confidential Guardian

Fhenix has graced the blockchain space as the inaugural confidential blockchain, deriving its power from fully homomorphic encryption. With its revolutionary fhEVM, it facilitates Ethereum developers to effortlessly create encrypted smart contracts and conduct encrypted data computation, utilizing familiar tools like Solidity.

Recently, Fhenix secured a $7.5M Seed Round, projected to usher the Fhenix Network into public testnet early in 2024 and propel ecosystem application development. 

While Fhenix is neither exclusively Layer1 or Layer2, it is widely recognized as a Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE) blockchain extension with potential applications across all blockchain data layers and protocol types.

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Linera Blockchain: Defining Scalability with Microchains

Linera stands out as a layer-1 blockchain protocol crafted to transport the elastic scaling of Web2 to Web3 through its innovative concept of microchains. These lightweight chains function parallelly within a common validator set, introducing an innovative method to blockchain scalability. The system broadens its scalability not by enlarging or hastening block production but by adding more chains, providing theoretically infinite blockspace.

Announcing a seed funding total of $12M, Linera has its initial SDK available for testing. It currently targets Rust developers but promises future support for additional programming languages, such as Solidity.

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Final Thoughts 

As the blockchain ecosystem advances, these five L1 networks, with their unique technological propositions, funding, and developmental strides, are one to watch in 2023. 

From Sui Network’s devotion to speed and accessibility to Linera’s innovative approach to scalability through microchains, the future seems bright, albeit faced with challenges and competition in the blockchain industry. 

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