In 2022, there is more than one cryptocurrency network to devote your time and attention to. You may ask – can’t we do with one or two networks, because there is Bitcoin and Ethereum? It turns out that they are already outdated in many ways: Bitcoin has low bandwidth, Ethereum is frustrating with high commissions. Competitor networks are rapidly catching up – so let’s take a closer look at them.

Features of Binance Smart Chain

Binance Smart Chain (BSC) is one of the most popular cryptocurrency networks in the world.

It is supported by the Binance exchange, and can be easily set up from the popular MetaMask wallet. Many popular GameFi projects are based on BSC, and the number of NFT-collections built on this blockchain cannot be counted – because their number is increasing by the minute. At the same time, the number of DeFi and web3 projects based on Binance Smart Chain is increasing rapidly every day. What is the reason for the popularity of BSC among developers? It turns out that it is not just a blockchain, but a whole virtual machine – like an Ethereum virtual machine, designed to perform blockchain smart contracts. The speed of transactions is much faster than on the Ethereum network, and commissions are virtually insignificant. And the BSC infrastructure is complemented by BNB tokens issued by the Binance exchange, as well as stablecoins BUSD issued by the same exchange. The disadvantages of the BSC network include its high degree of centralization.

The main characteristics of the Polygon network

Among all cryptocurrency networks, Polygon has a special place. MATIC coins are circulating in this network. The number of transactions per second is in the thousands, and the commission per transaction is a fraction of a cent. More and more NFT collections and GameFi projects are released in the Polygon network. The popular cryptocurrency wallet Metamask also supports the Polygon network. It’s not surprising that developers of advanced web 3 apps and dApps based on blockchain smart contracts are increasingly choosing the Polygon network and MATIC cryptocurrency. In addition, this network regularly releases meaningful updates, and the Polygon founding team is constantly giving out grants for young and promising projects.

What are the main differences of Fantom cryptocurrency

Fantom is not just a cryptocurrency network, but a whole ecosystem that combines various features. The main of them is execution of blockchain smart contracts and building various DeFi, web 3 and dApps based on them. It doesn’t use blockchain, but another kind of distributed ledger called Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) technology. And consider the extensive support of Solidity language, which allows, after a small redesign, to run DeFi, web 3 and dApps, previously developed for Ethereum network, on this network. Add to this the transaction speed not exceeding two seconds and the fixed commission, which does not exceed $0.0000001 – and we get the figures, which are unattainable for the majority of cryptocurrencies.

Let’s get to know the HECO network

The young HECO cryptocurrency network certainly deserves attention. The word HECO stands for Huobi ECO Chain. Yes, you guessed right: the main competitor of Binance exchange is competing confidently not only in the field of exchanges, but also in the field of blockchain battle. Based on HECO, the industry of dApps, web3 apps, and anything else that can be done based on blockchain smart contracts is rapidly developing. And if the Binance Smart Chain (BSC) network is much cheaper to use than the Ethereum network – the HECO network, in turn, is much cheaper than the BSC network, with comparable speed parameters. And this is already a serious bid to win in the competition. A layer2 solution is now being developed for HECO, which will make this network much faster. And in this case, the BSC network will have to worry about not being squeezed off the pedestal.

Everything you didn’t know about Ethereum

Everything that cryptocurrency networks are now promoting and actively promoting – web3, dApps, DeFi, GameFi, NFT and other technologies were previously created or invented for Ethereum network. As conceived by Vitalik Buterin, the Ethereum network was to become the world’s decentralized computer, resistant to censorship and with no single point of failure. Many other cryptocurrency networks inherited the gas system from Ethereum to calculate the required computing power. However, as the price of the ETH coin, which is circulating on the Ethereum network, has risen, it has become prohibitively expensive to perform smart contracts in many cases.The way out is the widespread adoption of layer 2 solutions, such as the Arbitrum network. In this case, over time, this network will move completely to the Proof of stake algorithm,

Young and promising Avalanche network

In just two years, the Avalanche cryptocurrency network has become one of the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization. It has support for the Solidity programming language, which uses the Ethereum network. Therefore, various web 3 apps and dApps based on blockchain smart contracts, previously written for Ethereum network, can easily run in Avalanche network after a small revision. There is also Avalanche Virtual Machine (AVM), which significantly outperforms Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), due to its faster speed and virtually insignificant fees. It uses a kind of DPoS (Delegated Proof of stake) algorithm to validate transactions. This means that the cryptocurrency network does not require a cumbersome and energy-intensive mining process. At the same time, AVAX coin owners can rent their coins to AVAX validator nodes, thereby increasing their income.

What is interesting about Arbitrum cryptocurrency?

The Arbitrum network, where ARB coins are circulating, belongs to the layer 2 solutions for the Ethereum network. At the same time, users of the popular Metamask wallet can easily connect to the Arbitrum network. One can easily transfer assets and tokens between Arbitrum and Ethereum networks, thus getting rid of high commissions of Ethereum. This is not the only second-tier solution for Ethereum network – there is also Optimism network which uses a similar validator nodes system. The essence of the system is that validator nodes keep ARB coins in special wallets and lose their collateral in case of fraudulent behavior or mistakes. Just one honest validator node is enough for the Arbitrum network to work correctly.

Be sure to pay attention to Cronos

CRO coins are circulating in the Cronos network. This is an infrastructure associated with crypto.com, a popular site in the cryptocurrency community. This infrastructure includes the payment solutions that are popular in the US and other countries, as well as different tools for DeFi, NFT and other digital assets. It also offers crypto.com financial mobile applications, one of the most popular cryptocurrency exchanges in the world and a variety of investment products. Cronos network is based on Cosmos algorithm. Cronos users and developers can add various decentralized financial products based on EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine) to this network. Cronos’ blockchain speed of 50,000 transactions per second is close to a world record. And the large number of grants for developers and services for crypto.com users further strengthens Cronos’ position.

A curious new development, the Moonriver network

We’ve already heard about a lot of different blockchains. Do we need to talk about another one? Well, it is worth telling about the Moonriver network, because its essence is an Ethereum-compatible parachain of the Kusama network. So the network where MOVR coins are circulating provides compatibility of web 3, dApps and DeFi in the Kusama network and in the Ethereum network. Moreover, blockchain smart contracts previously written for the Ethereum network can now run seamlessly on the Kusama network – with much faster speed and lower fees. Moonriver also has integration with promising cryptocurrency services such as Chainlink and The Graph.

Who is the OkeXchain network of interest to?

OkeXchain is last on the list, but not the least important cryptocurrency ecosystem. OKT tokens circulate in this network, and the OKEx cryptocurrency exchange supports this network. OKT tokens are used to reduce exchange fees, staking and many other tasks. The OKEx team also offers grants for developers of various DeFi and web 3 applications based on the OkeXchain blockchain. There is an opportunity to issue custom tokens of the KIP-20 standard on this network. And the popular MetaMask wallet can be set up to use the OkeXchain network. There is no doubt that the OkeXchain network will be rapidly developing in the near future – which means that it is of interest to all members of the cryptocurrency community.

From this article, we learned how diverse cryptocurrency networks are. Each of them has its own advantages and disadvantages. Fortunately, thanks to Bridges, exchanging tokens and assets across networks is no longer a problem. This allows cryptocurrency users to choose the most suitable network for their tasks. And creators of cryptocurrency networks can focus on developing the unique differences of their offspring. Thus, all participants of the cryptocurrency community will benefit from the widespread implementation of Bridges technology. This year it makes sense to add Terra, Harmony, Optimism and Gnosis to the list of supported cryptocurrency networks. More to come!

Now imagine this: tokens and assets are exchanged between different networks in less than a minute. This is a new technology called Bridge. It is playing an increasingly important role for the development of cryptocurrencies. For what reason? Thanks to Bridges, it is no longer so important which blockchain a project is built on. We can keep tokens, digital assets, NFTs and various GameFi-related assets on whichever blockchain we want. Each blockchain has its advantages and disadvantages, and thanks to Bridges, they all merge into a new digital environment.