A sudden interest in layer 1 bets is sparking growth in a number of crypto tokens despite Bitcoin’s recently weak performance.
Native tokens of the Fantom and Near blockchains surged as much as 20% over the last day. This is amid a prominent trend of investors betting on the growth of layer 1 protocols. The NEAR token hit a new all-time high of $17.48 before a brief sell-off at the time earlier today.
The moves defied the current halt in the price movements of major cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin and Ethereum, which fell 2% in the past 24 hours.
Layer 1 networks can be described as individual blockchain platforms on which decentralized finance (DeFi) applications or other software can be built. DeFi applications are protocols and services that rely on smart contracts to provide financial services, such as trading, lending and borrowing, to users. This rescues the need for the middleman and makes trading more straightforward.
Why NEAR is surging
The slow speeds and an expensive network of the Ethereum blockchain have led to users migrating to cheaper and faster networks. Near is one of these networks.
Avalanche (AVAX), Solana (SOL) and Terra (LUNA) have attracted billions of dollars in capital. However, investors are now betting on other networks, such as Near and Fantom.
On Tuesday NEAR broke its previous highs of $16.20, reaching $17.59 on some exchanges before dropping by a few cents. Much of the trading activity has occurred on the crypto exchange Binance.
NEAR prices started rising in late December 2021. This was on the back of an integration with Terra, the world’s second-largest DeFi blockchain by total valued locked (TVL), and its UST stablecoin. NEAR prices bumped 20% in the hours after that announcement, and the uptrend has continued to unveil.
FTM climbs
Fantom also saw huge gains on Tuesday. Prices of the native coin rallied 21% before falling to $2.97. FTM has now risen over 133% in the past two weeks. DeFi protocols built on the network are valued over $5.91 billion, according to DeFi Llama. $2 billion of that came in just the past two weeks.
Nevertheless, Fantom prices remain 15% lower than their previous highs of $3.46 in November 2021.
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