The blockchain industry is constantly evolving with new projects emerging on a regular basis and the existing ones further advancing their technology. In this wide space, some projects have managed to grab the headlines in market trends while others have stayed lowkey unnoticed despite their strong fundamentals and high potentials. In this blog, we’ll explore five of the most undervalued and less talked-about blockchain projects that could thrive in the remaining 2024 or forthcoming years. Let’s dive into it and explore one by one;
1. Berachain
Berachain is an emerging layer-1 blockchain platform specifically designed to support decentralized finance (DeFi) applications. It employs the novel Proof-of-Liquidity (PoL) consensus mechanism where users provide liquidity to the network and earn rewards in exchange. This novel consensus provides high throughput and low latency infrastructure for executing transactions. By keeping liquidity at its core development , Berachain aims to create a more robust and efficient network for DeFi applications.
Started as a NFT project, Berachain has come a long way with its development roadmap with now serves as a liquidity hub for DeFi applications. Berachain focuses on achieving high scalability and performance to handle the demands of emerging dApps. Although relatively new, Berachain is rapidly building an ecosystem of users, developers, and projects.
Key Developments by Berachain
Polaris EVM: The key component of Berachain’s EVM compatibility is its Polaris EVM. It offers enhanced environment for transaction execution while functioning on stateful pre-compiled and custom modules. Such an innovation ensures that Berachain not only inherits EVM functionalities but also exceeds its capabilities beyond.
Aptos
Launched in October 2022, Aptos is a Layer-1 blockchain which focuses on enhancing decentralization, speed, and scalability. It originally emerged from the Libra and Diem blockchain initiatives launched by Meta. However, the founding team of Mohammad Shaikh and Avery Ching shifted to building Aptos after Meta called off the development due to regulatory issues.
Aptos uses Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism which requires validators to stake APT tokens in order to become validators, same as Ethereum. While employing Byzantine Fault Tolerance (BFT) mechanism alongside PoS, Aptos enables validators to receive fair rewards and boosts transactions efficiently on its blockchain network.
Key Development by Aptos
The key feature of Aptos is its innovative approach to manage and process data. It treats data as resources which are unique objects that cannot be copied or discarded. This method ensures that smart contract calls do not waste resources and optimize performance. Each user on Aptos can store resources and hence it follows the ethos of decentralization.
Aptos uses the Move programming language for smart contract development which enables improved functionality than that of traditional smart contract languages like Solidity. Users can modify Move modules (smart contracts) by submitting transactions, upgrade existing modules, and execute specific entry functions. Aptos uses the Move Prover verification tool to ensure the functional correctness of programs within its ecosystem.
Fantom
Fantom is a blockchain platform designed to facilitate high-speed transactions for decentralized applications (dApps) and smart contracts. It features a unique consensus mechanism enabling high transaction speeds without compromising decentralization or security.
Fantom operates on Lachesis, a unique consensus mechanism which utilizes asynchronous Byzantine fault-tolerant (aBFT) approach. This mechanism allows the network to process up to 300,000 transactions per second while ensuring security against attacks and errors. Additionally, Fantom employs a Proof of Stake (PoS) mechanism, requiring validators to stake FTM coins as collateral to participate in the validation process.
Fantom supports various programming languages, enabling developers to import and use smart contracts from different platforms. It also ensures interoperability with other blockchain networks while simplifying dApp development. With a robust team of developers, partners, and a growing user community – Fantom is recognized as a promising blockchain project for 2024.
Key Development by Fantom
Lachesis Consensus Mechanism: This mechanism allows processing up to 300,000 transactions per second using an asynchronous Byzantine fault-tolerant (aBFT) approach. Its proven capabilities enhances network security and reducing the potential attacks.
Sui
Another layer-1 blockchain, Sui is developed to offer a low-latency network that focuses on instant transaction finality and high-throughput. This feature makes it an ideal choice for on-chain applications such as games, finance, and other real-time applications. Similar to Aptos, smart contracts on Sui are also written in the Move programming language. The founding team of Sui was also previously associated in Meta’s Libra project.
Sui achieves horizontal scaling by parallelizing transactions which allows independent transactions to be validated simultaneously. This is made possible by organizing data as independent objects. It uses the Byzantine fault-tolerant Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism at the core to functionalized the blockchain network.
Key Development by Sui
Unlike traditional blockchains that store data around accounts and add transactions sequentially (vertical scaling), Sui uses an object-centric model. This means that transactions are validated based on relevant data pieces instead of the entire chain. Such arrangement allows independent and individual validation for correlated and single transactions at the same time.
This innovative approach for transaction processing and data storage allows Sui to handle high transaction volumes efficiently. All these features make it a promising platform for a wide range of real-time and high-frequency applications.
Injective
Injective is developed and optimized for high-performative decentralized applications. It leverages Cosmos SDK framework and Tendermint-based Proof of Stake consensus algorithm. By combining technology of Ethereum and Cosmos, Injective achieves instant finality with speeds exceeding 25,000 transactions per second (TPS). The use of Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC) protocol makes it interoperable with other networks.
The introduction of a major mainnet upgrade Volan earlier this year significantly enhanced capabilities of the Injective network. It is now more friendly towards Real-World Assets tokenization (RWAs) while having improved transaction speeds, and enhanced interoperability.
Key Development by Injective
Injective employs rollup layers called Electro Chains (including in EVM and SVM), enabling developers from different virtual machine environments to deploy smart contracts seamlessly. Its architecture combines security with a rich ecosystem for dApps and financial products. While addressing the limitations of current DeFi platforms, Injective offers an inclusive infrastructure to build a robust ecosystem of decentralized applications.
Conclusion
The fast-paced blockchain industry continues to flourish with new innovations and advancements. The above listed layer 1 blockchain projects stand out as underrated and are poised to significant growth in the coming time. As these projects further gain mass attention and traction, they are likely to play a crucial role in expanding blockchain space to a wider user base. All these blockchain projects are potentialized to have huge success in 2024 or upcoming years.