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Major Chains, Ecosystems - Ethereum, Cosmos, Solana and other Wallet Basics for DeFi

There are many different types of blockchains and it can be overwhelming to learn about without any guidance.  This will be a basic introduction into the major chains to help you have context when you dive deeper in.  The following data is from https://defillama.com/chains

Main Chain Ecosystems:

Top 12 - 3/25/22TVL BillionsTVL %mcap/TVLWallet
1 Ethereum (ETH)$123.560.6%3.0EVM
2 Terra (LUNA)$26.412.9%1.2Cosmos
3 BSC (BNB)$12.66.2%5.5EVM
4 Avalanche (AVAX)$9.94.8%2.3EVM
5 Solana (SOL)$7.23.6%4.4Solana
6 Fantom (FTM)$6.43.1%0.5EVM
7 Tron (TRON)$4.32.1%1.5EVM
8 Polygon (MATIC)$4.02.0%2.7EVM
9 Cronos (CRO)$3.51.7%3.3Cosmos
10 Waves (WAVES)$3.01.5%1.1EVM
11 Osmosis (OSMO)$1.60.8%1.7Cosmos
12 Polkadot (DOT)$1.60.8%15.2Polkdot
Total$203.9


Ethereum & Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatible chains

The most popular and main original blockchain that enabled smart contracts is Ethereum.  As you can see from the data it, it still has over 60% of the Total Value Locked (TVL) of the top 12 chains.  Adding the EVM compatible chains bumps the number up to over 80%.  From a users point of view, EVM compatible chains means they can use the same wallet and interface.  The most popular for DeFi is https://metamask.io/.  This means that using these blockchains is the same interface and it is just about selecting which network you are using.  It also means you own the same wallet address on networks, making it easy to bridge assets to one network to another (because it is the same address, it removes the fear of sending tokens to the wrong address).  Another great thing about having the same address means you can track wallets and their assets and transactions with wallet trackers like https://debank.com/.

A very accessible source to keep up with Ethereum and related news is the Rollup episodes on http://podcast.banklesshq.com/.

With gas prices being very high on the main Ethereum network, most of my experience has been concentrated on the Fantom Network (from the above table you can see it has the lowest marketcap/TVL ratio).  A great resource to learn about the Fantom Network is FTM Alerts youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/FTMAlerts.  The main host, Austin, runs the channel and other shows on the channel.  One of the co-hosts, Justin Bebis, founder of Byte Masons is a great resources to listen to.  He appears to have great integrity and a good vision for DeFi and how his team is building it out https://www.bytemasons.com/. 

Cosmos

With over $30 billion in total locked value, it seems like the Cosmos ecosystem is gaining popularity.  Their main proposition is that the future of blockchains connect through an inter blockchain protocol (IBC).  The biggest project on Cosmos right now is the UST stablecoin from https://www.terra.money/.  It has become created the largest algorithmic backed stablecoin where users can get interest yields of close to 20% on https://www.anchorprotocol.com/.  If it is sustainable or not has become a pretty hot topic as the Terra network has over $25 billion in total locked value.

I'm just starting to learn about this Ecosystem, a great resource on youtube is https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCE1JHFSfUWcXVyzV3KGA9Fw - Cryptocito.  He has a bi-weekly show called "Splitting Atom".

Here is wallet software to interact with the cosmos blockchains https://www.keplr.app/.

Here is a great way to visualize the activity on Cosmos: https://mapofzones.com

Solana, Polkadot & others

There are many other chains like Solana, Polkadot and Cardano, etc.  with unique propositions to their approach to blockchains.  These other systems have their own wallets and I haven't dug into them deeply, but Solana appears to have a lot of venture capital money to help build out the Ecosystem.  After I get more familiar with Cosmos, I may dig into other chains if their popularity warrants it.

Summary and Takeaway

WalletTVL BillionsTVL %
EVM$163.780.3%
Cosmos$31.415.4%
Solana$7.23.6%
Polkadot$1.60.8%
Total$203.9

There are many different blockchains out there, I hope breaking them into wallet types makes it easier for you to approach and dig further.  If you have any other great resources to learn from, please feel free to share them.


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