What is Layer 1?
Layer 1 is a term that is used to describe a blockchain super computer. Ethereum is a Layer 1 blockchain. That is because developers build on top of Ethereum. DApps, like Uniswap, sit on top of Layer 1 Blockchains.
What happened was after Vitalik released Ethereum, other developers around the world thought they could build a better version. As of today, those gas fees to process transactions on Ethereum are too high to be usable by most people. To make a trade on Uniswap can cost $200!!!!
When using Ethereum, it should be easier to send money to someone else than Paypal because we no longer have to pay the intermediary fees, but the Gas fees for Ethereum are so high, and the transactions take so long to process, that it doesn’t make sense to send someone Ethereum instead of using Paypal.
Next Generation Layer 1 Blockchains
Developers all around the world are trying to build a better version of Ethereum that is faster, and cheaper to use. In the past few years, developers released Generation 2 Blockchains that they hope to outperform Ethereum.
Popular Generation 2 Layer 1 Blockchains:
There are other L1 Blockchains, but as of right now Ethereum, Solana, Terra, and Avalanche are the most popular. Like Ethereum has Ether, each one of these blockchains has their own currency (denoted in () next to their name).
Developers can argue which blockchain is better until the sun doesn’t shine anymore, but for our purposes we want to explore all of them. No one knows which blockchain will become the most popular. Some people believe that it will be easy to use all of them at the same time, others think Ethereum will only ever be the true blockchain. Most people are extremely bias, that is why it is important to explore each of these blockchains’ ecosystems.
You will not understand the difference between these Blockchains until you start using different applications on each one.
We will explore these more in-depth later through adventures.