Introduction
The cryptocurrency industry has blown up over the past couple of years. It went from something that is only talked about among developer communities to an $871 billion industry at its peak. With all the excitement around cryptocurrencies, many developers and traders are looking closely at which crypto projects would be the next big thing in 2022. In this article, we will go through 3 crypto projects, namely Ethereum, Aptos and Solana.
Ethereum in a nutshell
If you have been in the crypto world for a while, you probably have heard of Ethereum. Ethereum is the second largest blockchain project and was first developed in late 2013.
Architecture Design
The blockchain technology behind Ethereum is set up in such a way that allows decentralized finance (Defi), decentralized apps (dApps), and other things. Defi is a decentralized alternative to the current banking system, while DApps behave like regular apps but are decentralized. Both runs on a decentralized network in the Ethereum blockchain for data storage. This network is maintained by validators, which are incentivized to do so.
Application
There are various things the Ethereum blockchain allows you to do. Defi allows you to send money without a centralized authority and dApps enables you to build programs without hosting them in a centralized server. There are also other applications, like Non-Fungible Token (NFT) which gives you a way to represent something unique in the Ethereum network, and Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs), which allow you to make communities without centralized leadership.
Aptos in a nutshell
Aptos is a layer 1 blockchain that is used for decentralized finance and decentralized apps. It is maintained by Aptos Labs.
What is it trying to solve?
Aptos is a crypto project that plans to increase the scalability, security, and usability of decentralized finance using blockchain technology. It allows up to 160,000 transactions per second with a low transaction fee while maintaining security. This is achieved through the parallel execution of transactions. In addition, it uses Move, a Rust-based programming language, for its smart contracts.
Comparison to Ethereum
The current Ethereum network can register up to 45 transactions per second, while the Aptos blockchain can handle up to 160,000 transactions per second. This is because Aptos uses Block-STM technology, which allows parallel execution of transactions. Another main difference is in the Time-To-Finality (TTF), which measures how long it takes to confirm a transaction in the network. The TTF for Ethereum is more than 1 minute, while it takes less than 1 second in the Aptos network.
Solana in a nutshell
Solana is also a layer 1 blockchain that is used for decentralized finance and decentralized apps.
What is it trying to solve?
The Solana project is a project that aims to create a decentralized ecosystem built to enable scalable and user-friendly apps. It uses the Proof-of-Stake (PoS) and Proof-of-History (PoH), which are the consensus mechanism that determines how the blockchain is updated. This increases the network speed and transactions are processed much faster.
Comparison to Ethereum
The Solana network allows up to 3000-5000 transactions per second (TPS), which is higher than the Ethereum network. The Time-To-Finality (TTF) in the Solana network is about 2.5 seconds, which is lower than in Ethereum.
Similarities and differences
The high-level overview of the similarities and differences can be seen in the table below:
| Ethereum | Aptos | Solana | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type of blockchain | Layer 1 | Layer 1 | Layer 1 |
| Maximum transaction per second | 45* | 160,000 | 5,000 |
| Consensus mechanism | Proof-of-Stake** | Proof-of-Stake | Proof-of-Stake and Proof-of-History |
| Time-To-Finality | > 1 minute | < 1 second | 2.5 seconds |
| Programming language | Solidity | Move | Rust, C and C++ |
| Market Cap | $154 billion*** | $610 million*** | $4.9 billion*** |
*Note: By the end of the Ethereum development roadmap, it will allow up to 100,000 transactions
**Note: The consensus mechanism used to be Proof-of-Work (PoW), before being upgraded to Eth 2.0.
***Note: Market cap taken on 30/11/2022
(References – Aptos Research Report and CoinMarketCap)
Conclusion
Now that you have seen the similarities and differences between Ethereum, Aptos and Solana, here are some takeaways.
Takeaways for developers
If you are a developer wondering which project you should work on, you should look at which programming language you are familiar with. Also, research the developer community of each project. There will be more support and resources available for a project if it has a bigger community.
Takeaways for crypto traders
Disclaimer: This is not financial advice. Cryptocurrencies are volatile so trade at your own risk.
If you are a crypto trader, you would want to compare the different fundamental technologies used behind each project and the market capitalization of each project. Another thing you might also want to consider is the investor of each project.
