Galaxy Digital Research - Ready Layer One.pdf 4 MB

The smart contract platform that does find a way to achieve security, scalability, and decentralization (from the aforementioned scalability trilemma) has a high likelihood of becoming the de-facto platform for all global blockchain transactions. It's possible none ever achieve this, but different groups are taking different approaches to tackle the trilemma. These include reaching scale after decentralizing, progressively decentralizing network control while reaching scale, or doing them concurrently. Regardless of the way chains are targeting mass adoption, there is clearly no one size fits all method or golden path; if there were deterministic routes, alternative platforms to Ethereum would not exist to begin with. The idea behind the scalability trilemma is that blockchains can only achieve 2 of these 3 features: scalability, decentralization, and security. Blockchain designers need to pick 1 side of the triangle.

Blockchains can be built in different ways and in different formats. Some of the chains we highlight below opt for greater speed at the expense of less security or decentralization. Others, like Polkdato still opt for composability and seek to become the Layer 0 network of all these other networks. Regardless of how they are built, the success of these networks will ultimately hinge on how much mindshare they can attract, how accessible they are to the everyday user, and how robust they are to both attacks and internal malfunctions. Since these networks are all taking different approaches to achieve these ends, it is hard to measure and therefore predict which, if any, will be successful in the long run. Moreover, with different networks targeting different primary use cases, speeds, and user experiences, it is more likely, in our opinion, that no one network wins but rather that the blockchain landscape is composed of a series of interoperable networks.