Today I bring you an inventory of declining public chain projects. We know that the public chain depends on your on-chain ecology, and the most important thing about the on-chain ecology is TVL. No TVL means no one is using your chain, then you are not far from death. Today I mainly bring you an inventory of some mainstream projects, whose market capitalizations are still relatively large. Don’t consider projects with smaller market capitalizations. Please pay attention to see if there are any coins you have.
First of all, I would like to apologize. Yesterday’s article on SOL L2-sonic was indeed not well researched. When I was researching, I found that FTM was indeed being migrated to another project with the same name as sonic. Isn’t this a coincidence? At the same time, Sol-L2 has also recently launched a project, so I thought that the sonic of FTM and the sonic of L2 on SOL were the same. But later a friend pointed out that they were different. When I went back to look at the FTM sonic project, I found that they were different. Why did FTM upgrade to sonic? In fact, it’s nothing more than that it can’t be done anymore.
First, let’s look at the price of the currency. Since the peak in 2021, it has been falling, and then the peak in 2024 has only increased by 3-4 times, which is far lower than Bitcoin, and it only recovered a little after the announcement of the rework.
Looking at TVL and applications, it is even worse. The peak in 2021 was 8 billion, but now it is only 66 million, a drop of 99.1%! The current TVL of the transformed Sonic is 57 million. Although it has been increasing, it was just launched after all. There are certain stimulus policies in place, so it depends on the subsequent development.
The application ranked first is Cruve's pool, and the second-ranked swap has a TVL of only 14 million, so the lack of application is fatal for a public chain.
So can this upgrade successfully transform? I think it is difficult. After all, the upgrade is also focused on high speed. In fact, the speed was quite fast before. Speed is not the most important indicator for the current public chain. Instead, it depends on your ability to continue to operate. If you don’t do well the first time, people will trust you the second time. It’s a bit difficult.
So let's start today's special session on the big defeat - public chain
First place: Theta (Web3 Qvod - blockchain streaming platform Theta)
We talked about this project in May 2023. It is a web3 blockchain infrastructure provider for video streaming, and can be considered a decentralized content distribution network (CDN). The concept is actually quite good, with a current market value of US$2.5 billion. It is also planning for 2024 and 2025, and is also preparing to transition to GPU. However, the TVL just can't get up, and it's ruined, and the coin price has not performed well.
Theta’s highest TVL was 360 million in May 2022, but now it is only 2.1 million, a drop of 99.4%.
Second place: Zilliqa (Chinese sharding public chain-ZIL analysis)
We talked about this public chain in July 2023. ZIL is a sharded high-speed blockchain L1, a Chinese project. Its technical highlights are the Scilla programming language and Data-flow smart contracts. It currently has a market value of 500 million, but it really has no applications.
Zilliqa also reached its peak as soon as it went online, with a maximum TVL of 200 million US dollars. Currently, it is only 2.5 million US dollars, a drop of 98.75%.
Third place Kaia (Korean public chain leader-KLAY analysis)
The L1 blockchain project jointly developed by Kakao and LINE is also the result of the merger and upgrade of South Korea's public chains Klaytn and FNSA. Logically speaking, you have such a good background. Kakao is the largest Internet giant in South Korea and is endorsed by the social software giant LINE. It originally boasted that it would become the TON of Asia. You should have done a good job on the project, but it became a tool for South Korean chaebols to reap profits. You should go to hell.
Kaia’s TVL reached a maximum of 1.3 billion in September 2021 and is currently 55 million, a drop of 95.7%.
Fourth place Astar (web3 cross-chain infrastructure-Astar network (recently doubled))
The leader of Japan's public chain, the project announced in August 2023, is a web3 multi-chain infrastructure, based on the Polkadot framework at the bottom layer. It has no technical advantages, because the project was originally intended to be plasma's L2, but later gave up, and did not find its own positioning. The current market value is still 500 million, and it still has 500 million, which is not worthy!
Astar’s highest TVL was 380 million US dollars in June 2022, but now it is only 21 million US dollars, a drop of 94.4%.
No. 5 Metis (Why has the fully decentralized L2 project Metis skyrocketed recently?)
The project mentioned in December 2023 is also an L2 project. The only bright spot is the decentralized sorter. The price of the currency was very good at that time. The price increased by more than 10 times, and the highest price was more than 300. Now it is dying, and many people are buried. It is difficult to get out of this round. At present, the TVL has also fallen, and the people have left.
Metis’ highest TVL was 480 million in May 2022, but now it is only 50 million US dollars, a drop of 89%.
6. Celo (Will the next Luna be Celo?)
This is also a project we talked about in September 2023, a public chain focusing on mobile payments. At that time, we said that this project was a very pseudo-demand (mobile phone number instead of wallet address), and the currency price performance was stagnant, but it still had a market value of 700 million.
Celo’s TVL was as high as $1 billion, but currently it is only $130 million, a drop of 87%.
No. 7 Moonriver & Moonbeam (Ethereum-GLMR on Polkadot has now entered a value trough?)
Moonriver is the test network of Moonbeam (equivalent to the relationship between DOT and KSM). It was also a project mentioned in August 2023 and is also the EVM on Polkadot. At that time, it was said that the project had a large number of coins and had been dumping the market. It also seemed to be a Chinese project. Sure enough, the exchange rate went down and it didn’t move at all. The TVL also fell. It was a ZP project.
Moonriver’s highest TVL was 38 million in November 21, but now it is only 5.6 million, a drop of 85%, and there is no sign of stopping the decline.
8. Conflux (CFX, the light of domestic public chain, unlimited imagination space?)
CFX, the leader of the Hong Kong concept, actually has no big highlights in terms of technology. It is just a DAG, and there is really no ecosystem. After the Hong Kong concept became popular, it has been in a slump, and the price of the currency has not improved. If you want to wait for a recovery, it is estimated that our village will have to embrace the attitude of blockchain or a more relaxed policy (this wave is unlikely). At present, CFX cannot be seen by its TVL, but it can be regarded as a MEME.
Conflux’s highest TVL was US$72 million in June 2023, and is currently US$15 million, a drop of 79%.
No. 9 Mode (modular DEFI L2-Mode network project analysis)
The L2 launched in May 2024 is a DEFI L2 built based on OP. It has nothing special about it. It can only be said that there are too many layer2s in this wave, and retail investors cannot profit from them. Although the recent coin price performance is still good, the ladder unlocking will be started in May 2025, so hurry up and run.
Mode’s highest TVL was 570 million US dollars in May of 2024, but only half a year later, the TVL had dropped to 140 million, a drop of 75%.
10. Venom
This project was launched in March 2024. I still remember that they took everyone to get the airdrop at that time. As a result, no airdrop was issued on the test network. It also claimed to be a first-layer blockchain platform regulated by the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM). The team was endorsed by someone (some BlackRock). In fact, it is just a ZP project. If you don’t believe it, please look at the performance of the currency price. There is no lowest, only lower.
Venom reached its peak when it was launched, with the highest TVL of 17 million US dollars. Currently, it is only 6.1 million, a drop of 64%, and it is still falling. According to this trend, it will soon return to zero.
Because projects are developing dynamically, the projects we were optimistic about before may become better or worse after a period of development. This is a normal phenomenon. Today, I will bring you a guide to closing pits of public chains with a market value of hundreds of millions. If you like it, please like it. We will launch guides for closing pits of other tracks in the future.