Layer by Layer Issue 21: BNB Smart Chain, Cronos, Solana, and Fantom

An interesting aspect of the crypto industry’s evolution over the last few years is the pace at which it has adapted to change, whether driven by technological advances or broader societal shifts in culture and behavior. This openness to change has long been a hallmark of crypto, with the relative ease of forking code allowing developers to freely create their own vision of a blockchain or application, regardless of scale or purpose. Many of the largest protocols today grew from direct forks of other protocols, whether it be L1 chains like Litecoin and Dogecoin emerging from Bitcoin or DeFi applications like SushiSwap emerging from Uniswap. 

Equally fundamental to the crypto ecosystem is its intrinsic relationship with money and the digitization of value. How much should a Bitcoin be worth? How about a smart contract platform, or the assets and applications on top of it and the infrastructure beneath it? How much is a transaction worth? Over time, the answers to these questions have changed frequently, often reflecting the demands and interests of the market at different points in time.