Ethereum, the big winner of 2022 – The previous bullrun enabled thousands of people to discover and familiarize themselves with the cryptocurrencies. However, not all are the subject of the same interest. An analysis of what is happening on-chain allows us to identify the blockchains channeling the most attention.
A look back at 2022 trends via on-chain analysis
The year 2022 has just ended. Thus, many researchers have undertaken retrospective analyzes identifying the different trends of the past year.
This is the case of Tripolian independent researcher, who published a comprehensive report based on on-chain analyzes of different blockchains.
Ethereum: Leading in Usage
Initially, Tripoli wished to identify the blockchain having fanned most interest in 2022. To do this, he measured the demand vis-à-vis the blockspacei.e. the amount of information stored in each block.
To measure this demand, Tripoli used the expenses spent by users on every blockchain in 2022. Thus, Ethereum comes wide in the lead by counting 80% of expenses spent on major blockchains.
In total, $4.3 billion were spent on fees on Ethereum in 2022. Far behind, we find the BNB Chain with $745 million. Bitcoin meanwhile only accounts for 141 million dollars and is positioned in 4th place behind the Tron network.
“The dominance of smart contract chains is even more evident, with Binance’s Smart Chain accounting for 80% of the remaining fees (after Ethereum), while the largest simple transfer models (Bitcoin, Dogecoin, and Litecoin) only represent fees negligible in comparison. »
“Without significant adoption of digital currencies globally, demand remains focused on blockchain infrastructure and digital asset applications. »
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The trends of 2022 on Ethereum
The Ethereum network has been at the heart of many narratives since its launch. In 2022, the NFT have been there more big ethereum trend being the source of an average of 35% of the costs spent on the network.
For its part, Tripoli predicts that the NFT will continue to be in the spotlight in 2023. However, this focus will shift from artistic NFTs to utility-focused NFTs such as authentication NFTs.
For their part, gas consumption on L1 by L2 could stagnate in 2023, in particular following the deployment of EIP 4844, which aims to drastically reduce their consumption.
The case of Tron
The case of blockchain tron is interesting to explore. Indeed, despite a virtual absence of the blockchain in the community interest, it is still witness to a flourishing activity.
This activity is mainly due to the use of the network as USDT transfer vector. Indeed, while blockchains like Ethereum have too high fees for transfers of small amounts of USDT, Tron has managed to do well by having much lower fees.
So, while revenue generated from fees on different blockchains has varied over the year, Tron’s has remained relatively stable.
Layer 2: the next big crypto trend
Although many players in the ecosystem predicted a major boom in second-layer solutions in 2022, the latter have not yet had the expected enthusiasm.
Tripoli identified 3 causes to this phenomenon:
- The exchange platforms took much longer than expected to integrate the L2s;
- Fees on L1s have dropped significantly, reducing interest in L2s;
- The transition to proof of stake has taken precedence over the deployment of L2-friendly updates, such as protodanksharding.
Nevertheless, the share of costs consumed by layers 2 on Ethereum kept growing. In addition, the use of layers 2 continues to increase as native transactions on Ethereum fall.
Layer 2: a solution for Bitcoin?
Obviously, second layer solutions are not exclusive to Ethereum. Indeed, this thesis was first born on Bitcoin with the deployment of the Lightning Network. Unfortunately, it is still struggling to gain momentum.
Thus, in its report, Tripoli hypothesizes that the second layer solutions could also help the bitcoin network on several aspects.
“Eventually, if the Lightning Network succeeds in gaining a foothold and developing decentralized applications, it will go a long way to rectifying the decline in demand for block space on Bitcoin. »
Either way, the year 2023 promises to be full of twists and turns for the cryptocurrency ecosystem. Let’s hope, however, that the gangrene represented by hacks and other scams does not continue to grow. For this, it is essential that users are doubling vigilance in protecting their cryptocurrencies.
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