January Layer 1 Landscape Recap

The start of 2023 in the crypto industry follows a year of extreme volatility, marked by the epic collapses of multiple institutions and the extensive drawdowns in crypto markets throughout the year. In the aftermath of this chaos, the competitive landscape for Layer 1 (L1) networks has seen continual shifts that often go unnoticed in the shadow of larger headline-grabbing events. In this new monthly recap of L1 ecosystems, we will dive into some of the main trends across L1s over the past month, as well as the key metrics that reflect the state of user activity in particular networks. 

Valuations for L1 tokens rebounded dramatically to start the year, with the price of ETH rising by ~37% over the course of January. L1s with lower market capitalization benefitted especially from the bounce, led by the relatively new entrants Aptos and Canto, both of whose native tokens appreciated by more than 400% in January.