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Discover the top 10 Layer1 Altcoins for 2025 driving scalability, AI, and DeFi. From Ethereum to Qubic, here are the networks leading.
Author: Chirag Sharma
2025 has been a wild ride for crypto so far, but if there’s one corner of the market that keeps pulling attention, it’s Layer1 altcoins. These are the base-layer blockchains, the foundations everything else is built on. They’re not just coins; they’re ecosystems. They power DeFi, NFTs, gaming, AI integrations, and now even real-world assets.
When people talk about “the next big thing,” they often forget the real value comes from infrastructure. That’s where Layer1 altcoins step in. Some are household names like Ethereum and Solana. Others, like Qubic and Keeta, are newer but have the potential to shake things up. Let’s go through the top 10 Layer1 altcoins for 2025 and see what makes each one worth watching.
You can’t talk Layer1 Altcoins 2025 without starting with Ethereum. It’s the chain that made smart contracts mainstream and it’s still where the biggest liquidity and developers live.
The big story in Layer1 Altcoins for 2025 is the Dencun upgrade. It cut gas fees by about 60% and made Layer2s cheaper to use. That means Ethereum isn’t losing ground to faster chains, it’s evolving to meet them head-on. If you want decentralization, liquidity depth, and trust, ETH still has no rival — even if peak activity still pushes fees up.
If Ethereum is the king, Solana is the fast challenger. Its whole identity is speed and cost efficiency, and that’s why it’s a magnet for DeFi traders, NFT creators, and even institutions.
What’s different this year is reliability. Solana has struggled with outages in the past, but upgrades like the Firedancer validator are making it stronger. With Web3 gaming hype and new metaverse plays on the rise, Solana could easily see $20B TVL before the year closes.
Sui doesn’t always get the same spotlight, but its tech is quietly impressive. It’s built on the Move language and its object-centric model allows parallel execution, meaning apps don’t slow each other down.
The killer feature is zkLogin, which lets you log into apps using something as simple as your Google account. That’s a Web2-friendly way to onboard millions of people. Combine that with scalability and you’ve got a serious contender aiming to rival Solana in adoption.
Kaspa takes a completely different path. Instead of building a new smart contract playground, it focuses on reimagining Proof of Work with its GHOSTDAG protocol. Think of it as Bitcoin, but running much faster.
Kaspa doesn’t yet have the depth of other ecosystems, but its fair launch, security, and speed make it appealing to purists. If future upgrades bring smart contract functionality, this could scale beyond its current niche.
This is one of the most fascinating projects in the market right now. Bittensor combines blockchain with AI, creating an open marketplace where machine learning models compete, learn, and earn.
Its consensus model, Yuma Consensus, allows AI models to evolve like Darwin’s theory of natural selection. No fees, just incentives. The risk? Governance challenges and debates around centralization. The potential? Massive, especially with the AI sector exploding in crypto.
Injective is built for finance, and it shows. Its goal is to break silos in trading and derivatives using the Cosmos SDK and IBC.
It even offers zero-gas transactions for certain use cases. If tokenized RWAs (real-world assets) continue gaining traction, Injective could see explosive growth from institutions.
Sei is all about trading. Its parallelized EVM allows lightning-fast finality with strong frontrunning protection, which makes it a favorite for traders who demand reliability.
With confirmation times down to 400ms and strong VC backing, Sei is well-positioned. It doesn’t yet have Ethereum’s network effect, but in terms of user experience, it’s setting a new standard.
Sonic is basically Fantom 2.0 which is a major rebrand and overhaul that boosted performance dramatically.
With 400K TPS, EVM compatibility, and massive fee rebates for developers, Sonic is attracting attention fast. It’s early but it already looks like one of the most undervalued Layer1s relative to its competitors.
Keeta is trying something bold, marrying high throughput with compliance. It runs on a DAG architecture that can hit 10M TPS and even integrates KYC/AML at the protocol level.
Backed by high-profile supporters like Eric Schmidt, Keeta could disrupt global payments if adoption keeps climbing. It’s early days, but it’s one of the more ambitious visions in the Layer1 space.
Qubic takes the idea of mining and flips it. Instead of just securing the chain, miners actually train AI models while providing Proof of Work.
It’s still experimental, but it sits at the intersection of crypto and AGI research. If it works, it could be groundbreaking. If not, volatility will make it a risky play.
| Number | Altcoin | USP / Focus | TVL / Market Cap | Key Growth in 2025 | Ecosystem Strength |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ethereum | Smart contracts & DeFi hub | $306B TVL | +20% YTD TVL | 4,000+ dApps |
| 2 | Solana | High-speed, low-cost chain | $13B TVL | SOL +50% | DeFi, NFTs, gaming |
| 3 | Sui | Parallel execution via Move | $2B TVL | Wallets 1M+ | 200+ dApps |
| 4 | Kaspa | PoW with blockDAG tech | $2.3B market cap | Wallets +260% | Early DeFi, NFTs |
| 5 | Bittensor | AI subnets and tokenized compute | $4.18B cap / $500M TVL | TAO +220% | 32+ AI subnets |
| 6 | Injective | Cross-chain finance derivatives | $50M TVL | TVL +200% | DeFi & RWAs |
| 7 | Sei | Trading-focused L1, 50K+ TPS | $12B TVL | Users 600K+ | Strong DeFi/NFTs |
| 8 | Sonic | 400K TPS, EVM-compatible | $1.6B TVL | TVL +2,951% | Growing DeFi apps |
| 9 | Keeta | 10M TPS DAG + compliance | $100M TVL | Wallets 1M+ | Fintech adoption |
| 10 | Qubic | AI-powered PoW chain | $50M TVL | Price +100% | Early AI dApps |
