Chapter 15
Top Ten Smart-Contract Platforms
IN THIS CHAPTER
Exploring the ten most active smart-contract platforms
Presenting additional measures of DeFi activity
In this chapter, I cover the top ten smart-contract platforms by total value locked (TVL), as shown in Figure 15-1. As discussed in Chapter 2, a platform’s TVL provides a better sense of the actual DeFi activity on the platform than metrics such as the total market cap or trading volume of the platform’s native token. I also provide the number of active DeFi applications built on each of these platforms along with the market cap of the native token for each platform.
Unsurprisingly, you’ll notice that the vast majority of platforms on this list are EVM-compatible, and a few layer-2 protocols have made the list. See Chapter 10 for more details on layer-1 versus layer-2 platforms.
At the time of this top ten snapshot, all the platforms, except for Ethereum, were secured by proof-of-stake consensus protocols. As of September 15, 2022, Ethereum underwent a process known as The Merge, effectively transitioning from a proof-of-work to proof-of-stake consensus protocol. See Chapter 9 for more details on consensus mechanisms.
FIGURE 15-1: Top ten smart-contract platforms by TVL from the DefiLlama dashboard accessed on August ...
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