Layer-1 Blockchains Are 10x Larger than Layer-2s

What are the Top Layer-1 Blockchains?
Ethereum (ETH) is the top Layer-1 (L1) blockchain, with $23.0 billion in total value locked (TVL) as of October 2023. It reached its yearly peak TVL of $31.5 billion in April 2023, shortly after the Ethereum Merge (Shapella/Shanghai Upgrade) on April 12, 2023.

The top 10 L1 blockchains have 9.6 times more TVL than the top 10 L2 blockchains. Despite the fact that L1s have seen smaller growth in terms of TVL compared to L2s, the total value locked (TVL) in the top L1s significantly surpasses the TVL of the top L2s. This underscores that TVL remains predominantly concentrated on L1s and suggests that L2s still have substantial ground to cover in this respect.

Tron (TRX) is the second largest L1 blockchain, reaching its yearly peak of $7.9 billion in TVL in October 2023.

Binance Smart Chain (BSC) follows closely as the third largest L1 blockchain, with $2.8 billion in TVL in October 2023. It reached its yearly peak TVL of $5.7 billion in February 2023.

6 out of 10 of the top 10 L1 blockchains now run on the Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism, while Bitcoin (BTC) is the only blockchain in the top 10 L1 blockchains which runs on the Proof of Work (PoW) consensus mechanism. The other three blockchains in the top 10 each run on slightly differing consensus mechanism, with Tron running on a Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS), BSC running on a Proof of Staked Authority (PoSA) and Cronos running on a Proof of Authority (PoA) consensus mechanism.

Despite Bitcoin being the first blockchain, it ranks at number 8 in the top 10 L1 blockchains in terms of TVL. This is due to the nature of Bitcoin, where its main purpose is to be a store of value and digital gold rather than for DeFi.