Layer by Layer Issue 22: Fantom, Avalanche, Terra, and Osmosis

Layer 1 (L1) blockchains and their ecosystems have been the primary focus of this series since its inception back in mid-2021. In many respects, our research into these base layer protocols for interacting with the new digital economy has been driven by the explosion of global decentralized finance (DeFi) and NFT activity over the past two years. In 2020, the rapid growth of major DeFi primitives on Ethereum like Uniswap, Compound, and Yearn Finance encouraged a flurry of innovation in composable applications that still underpin much of the on-chain financial activity today. 

In 2021, an unprecedented level of Ethereum network usage opened the door for the emergence of many alternative L1s that boast higher transaction throughput and lower fees but also varying levels of security and decentralization. Alongside a dramatic increase in the overall market cap of cryptocurrencies, these L1s gave birth to vibrant DeFi ecosystems of their own as users became increasingly adept at moving their capital across multiple chains for new investment and yield opportunities.