Layer 1 Coins

Layer 1 is the blockchain itself: the network that validates transactions and stores them. Every other layer — applications, DeFi protocols, tokens running on top — rests on it. A layer 1 coin is generally used to pay fees and to secure the network.

Competition between layer 1 networks turns mostly on one trade-off: speed and low cost against decentralisation and security. A network processing more transactions per second usually does so by conceding something on validator count or hardware requirements, and that is a genuine engineering trade rather than marketing.

For an investor the practical consequence is that the coin value is tied to network use. A network nobody builds on collects fewer fees, and a coin designed to pay fees on a network with no activity struggles to justify its price over time.

Layer 1 Coins — the list

The 14 coins listed here moved 1.99% on average today. NEAR Protocol led at 10.40% and TRON lagged at -1.21%. Combined market capitalisation for the group is about $474.4B.

What the data shows about this group

The group is concentrated: Ethereum alone accounts for 69.59% of the combined market capitalisation of the 14 coins listed. That means an index of the whole category would move mostly on one coin, and that spreading across several names here diversifies less than it appears.

Measured against their all-time highs, the 14 coins here sit an average of 79.47% below. Closest to its high is TRON at 22.76%, furthest is Internet Computer at 99.54%. A coin down 99.54% needs a 21,795.31% gain merely to return to that high — arithmetic worth doing before assuming a deep decline is automatically an opportunity.

On supply the group is mixed: 7 of the 14 coins listed have a hard cap and the rest do not. That is an economic rather than a technical distinction — an uncapped coin can expand its supply over time, so rising demand does not translate into price with the same force.

Other crypto themes

This is not financial advice.

← All crypto

Last updated: 2026-09-27