Ethereum Rivals Continue to Struggle Amid Recent Upgrades

Over the past few years, a plethora of layer-1 blockchain networks has emerged as potential rivals to Ethereum. However, despite their initial promise, many of these projects have failed to live up to expectations.

Sonic, launched by renowned developer Andre Cronje, was one such example. With a peak total value locked (TVL) of over $1.10 billion and attractive chain fees, Sonic attracted the attention of prominent developers like Pendle and Aave. However, its fortunes soon took a turn for the worse, with its TVL plummeting to just $39 million and chain fees falling to $23k in Q1 from $955k in the second quarter of last year.

Unichain, launched by Uniswap last year, experienced strong initial growth, with its total value locked soaring to $878 million within a few months. However, today, the figure has slumped to $33 million, while its chain fees tumbled to just $72k last quarter.

Berachain is another Ethereum rival that launched with a lot of hype, with its total value locked soaring to $3.3 billion, a figure that has now plunged to $71 million. At its peak, the network had over $2 billion in stablecoin supply, which has now dropped to $83 million.

Scroll made its pitch as a privacy-focused chain leveraging zero-knowledge technology. As a result, its TVL jumped to $600 million before dropping to $18 million.