Best Free Layer 1 Protocols

Hive has a thriving ecosystem of over 126 apps, communities & projects and is home to some of the most-used Web3 apps in the world, such as Splinterlands, PeakD and HiveBlog. Wallets are incredibly important to securely store your cryptocurrencies and to interact with Web3 apps. Hive has multiple community-owned and open-source wallets available for Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android & Web. The development of Hive and its ecosystem is made possible by contributors. To incentivize crucial work, such as Core Development, a DAO-like structure: the Decentralized Hive Fund (DHF), is being leveraged to intelligently fund important work.

The fork of Solana with embedded EVM integration. Fastest EVM/EBPF hybrid chain inherited best from Solana and applied to EVM world. Supports all smart contracts built on the Ethereum blockchain. Extremely efficient performance at a fraction of the cost. Stake to support decentralization and get rewards. Through the Velas Network users gain access to decentralized services, delegating the security of his passwords, keys or seed-phrases to segmentation algorithms and validators that are interested in data security. Most important, this information will be distributed over the network and not available to any of its participants.

Meter is a high performance infrastructure that allows smart contracts to scale and travel seamlessly through heterogeneous blockchain networks. Meter is a Layer 1 and Layer 2 blockchain protocol. The Meter system consists of two tokens: MTRG, the governance token (eMTRG is the ERC20 version), and MTR, the low-volatility currency token. Financial assets should flow freely among blockchains. Meter’s HotStuff-based consensus allows 1000s of validator nodes, making Meter the most decentralized Layer 2 for Ethereum. Meter processes thousands of transactions per second and transactions are confirmed almost instantly. Meter Passport allows assets and smart contracts travel and communicate across heterogeneous blockchains for the best price, liquidity and yield. Meter is an Ethereum Compatible with unique enhancements. Unlike other Layer 2, DEXes build on Meter are front running/MEV resistant, fast and uncensorable.

Zano is an open source platform designed to provide a simple, efficient way to manage and monitor personal data and digital identity. It allows users to take control of their online presence by offering tools for secure file storage, communication, and access management. Zano emphasizes privacy and security, providing end-to-end encryption for sensitive data and ensuring that users' information is protected from unauthorized access. It is designed for individuals who are concerned about the security of their personal information and want to safeguard their digital identity in a user-friendly environment. Zano also includes features such as customizable privacy settings, enabling users to control who can access their data and how it is shared. By combining secure storage and communication tools, Zano provides a comprehensive solution for managing and protecting personal digital assets.

Polkadot is a blockchain network being built to enable Web 3.0, a decentralized and fair internet where users control their own data and markets prosper from network efficiency and security. Polkadot was founded in 2016 by Gavin Wood, former Co-Founder and CTO of Ethereum. Polkadot’s technology addresses the major issues that have stymied blockchain adoption in recent years. Polkadot’s software development toolkit, Substrate, created by Parity Technologies, makes it easy for blockchain developers to build their own custom, fit-for-use blockchains. Polkadot also enables multiple blockchains to communicate between each other, allows for easy upgradeability, and introduces “shared security”, a plug-and-play network security model that allows developers to focus on the technology and avoid spending time and resources recruiting a set of operators to run a new blockchain.

The Builder’s fastest path to market, NEAR is an open source platform that accelerates the development of decentralized applications. Building the tools to enable community-driven innovation that benefits people around the world. Near Inc is building NEAR, a new application platform designed to bring blockchain to wide variety of mainstream applications. Focusing on developer and end user experience, NEAR is high performance infrastructure that real people can use. NEAR is a decentralized application platform that is secure enough to manage high value assets like money or identity and performant enough to make them useful for everyday people, putting the power of the Open Web in their hands. NEAR’s token economy is built around the NEAR token, a unit of value on the platform that enables token holders to use applications on NEAR, participate in network governance, and earn token rewards by staking to the network.

With lower transaction fees than any credit card, better exchange rates than any government-backed currency, and faster transaction confirmations than other digital payments, Bitcoin Diamond is the internet’s native currency. Bitcoin Diamond is a global currency that you can use to purchase products from any country and have them shipped to your doorstep, anywhere in the world. It all costs less than a penny per transaction and no currency exchange is required. With traditional government-backed currency, it can be difficult to protect your money from theft and inflation. Bitcoin Diamond is a fork of the Bitcoin blockchain, the most widely-used and most secure cryptocurrency. Unlike fiat currency, Bitcoin Diamond has a limited supply to make sure inflation is kept under control. It is based on a decentralized blockchain that keeps inflation under control by design; it can be easily accessed from any location; each transaction is verified by multiple computers around the world.

A blockchain that’s compliance ready with today’s and tomorrow’s economies. That enables private and public transactions. That offers high throughput, fast transactions, and predictable fees. That allows businesses, developers, and traders to harness blockchain’s true power and potential. Concordium’s decentralised blockchain technology is the first with layer-one ID built into the protocol. This means it offers forward-thinking businesses, application developers, and cryptocurrency traders unrivalled security, privacy, transparency and most importantly, compliance with regulations, if and when these come through. Utilizing zero-knowledge-proofs (ZKP) allows parties to verify information without exchanging or storing that information on-chain other than hash functions, so users can trust that their confidential business will become no one else’s business.

The First Blockchain Built for GameFi and Metaverse. Vision expects to create a high-performance, interoperability, scalability, and high security metaverse space, to lower the threshold for users to enter it. Evolved from PoS, the protocol is the culmination of tireless effort. The VPoS network is composed of worldwide and independent validator nodes, with Very high safety factor, make it convenient login, difficult to attack. Transactions on Vision are finalized in seconds and cost little. Vision is compatible with EVM, helping users deploy and run their Ethereum dApps on Vision easily. Vision is fully compatible with Ethereum. Deploy your dApps at a fraction of the cost and experiment with Vision’s high performance. Vision code is completely open source. Everyone can read it, check on the progress, comment on it, and help us build the ecosystem. Vision Metaverse Go! Creator is a content creation-focused, scripted, component-based and data-driven game development tool.

Ethereum is the community-run technology powering the cryptocurrency, ether (ETH) and thousands of decentralized applications. Ethereum is a technology that's home to digital money, global payments, and applications. The community has built a booming digital economy, bold new ways for creators to earn online, and so much more. It's open to everyone, wherever you are in the world – all you need is the internet. Today, billions of people can’t open bank accounts, others have their payments blocked. Ethereum's decentralized finance (DeFi) system never sleeps or discriminates. With just an internet connection, you can send, receive, borrow, earn interest, and even stream funds anywhere in the world. Today, we gain access to 'free' internet services by giving up control of our personal data. Ethereum services are open by default – you just need a wallet. Stake your ETH to become an Ethereum validator.

Build on Avalanche. Build without limits. Avalanche is an open, programmable platform for decentralized finance applications. Launch Ethereum dapps that confirm transactions instantly and process thousands of transactions per second, far beyond any decentralized blockchain platform today. Deploy blockchains that fit your own application needs. Build your own virtual machine and dictate exactly how the blockchain should operate. Stake, or lock up, your AVAX to help process transactions and further secure the platform–providing security guarantees well-above the 51% standard. You probably have the hardware required to join the platform. Avalanche is Solidity-compatible. All of your favorite tools like Remix, Truffle, and Tenderly work out of the box. Deploying smart contracts on Avalanche cost just a tenth of what they cost on Ethereum. High gas fees, front-running, and other adverse effects of slow smart contract blockchains are now a thing of the past.

Next generation video and entertainment blockchain powered by you. The Theta blockchain is the only end-to-end infrastructure for decentralized video streaming and delivery that provides both technical and economic solutions. This is one of the most exciting new blockchain ventures I have heard about. Decentralized peer-to-peer video delivery. A new native blockchain. Powered by users. For sharing excess bandwidth and resources, viewers are now rewarded to participate in the network. A decentralized peer-to-peer network delivers streams efficiently globally. Video platforms no longer need to build expensive infrastructure, means more innovation and unique business models. Open to all developers and partners to build on the Theta network. Video platforms and content providers can build specialized Dapps for their audience. From esports, music, TV and movies to distance learning and peer to peer live streaming. Power the next generation entertainment.