10 Fastest L1 Blockchains in the World

Cryptocurrencies are limited by the blockchain trilemma, which suggests that blockchains can only prioritize two of the three: scale, security, and decentralization.

At the moment, scalability seems to be the main focus of layer one (L1) blockchains — so we have compiled the 10 most scalable L1 blockchains in the world based on their network throughput.

Note that the list is based on a X post from Justin Bons, founder of crypto investment firm Cyber Capital. Bons listed 9 chains among the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market cap that can exceed 2,000 transactions per second (TPS) and are permissionless and decentralized. We also added HBAR, a more centralized chain, for an example of the other side..

What are the fastest L1 blockchains in the world? Let’s find out.

Table of Contents Table of Contents

1. Key Takeaways
2. 10 Fastest L1 Blockchains in the World
3. The Bottom Line
4. References

Show Full Guide

Table of Contents

1. Key Takeaways
2. 10 Fastest L1 Blockchains in the World
3. The Bottom Line
Show Full Guide
4. References

10 Fastest L1 Blockchains in the World

10. Solana (SOL)

Solana is a L1 blockchain that uses the proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism. What makes Solana unique from its competition is the use of an innovative timestamp system called proof-of-history (PoH).

PoH allows nodes on Solana to validate the entire chain with a small piece of information. PoH also allows transactions on the Solana blockchain to be verified in parallel, leading to higher network throughput. Most blockchains, including Ethereum (ETH), use sequential execution where only one transaction is executed at a time.

According to Chainspect, Solana’s maximum recorded TPS was 7,229 TPS.

9. Fantom (FTM)

Fantom is a L1 blockchain that combines asynchronous Byzantine fault tolerance (aBFT) consensus mechanism with DAG.

aBFT consensus allows nodes on Fantom to reach consensus independently. Each node on Fantom verifies its own transactions and is not required to incorporate blocks created by other validators in a sequential order.

Meanwhile, Fantom’s DAG-based approach does not force validators to work on the current block being produced. Validators create their own blocks and share it with the rest of the network asynchronously, thereby increasing network throughput.

According to Fantom, a network upgrade called Sonic helped Fantom achieve network throughput of about 2,000 TPS.

8. Kaspa (KAS)

Kaspa is a proof-of-work (PoW) L1 that uses a parallel block approach to offer high network throughput, single-second block intervals, and instant transaction confirmation.

Kaspa says that it is not a blockchain but a block directed acyclic graph (DAG).

According to Kaspa, it processes all blocks in parallel and links all sidechains. This leads to a structure that increases the formation of blocks per second, ultimately creating a block DAG.

In March 2024, Kaspa said its testnet produced transaction throughput of 3,000 TPS.

7. Hedera (HBAR)

While Bons did not mention Hedera in his X post because it showed “​​no evidence that they will be decentralized soon,” we added it to showcase its unique design as well as its centralized properties.

Hedera is a public hashgraph ledger network governed by a 39-member council of leading global enterprises. As of July 2024, Dell, Boeing, Google, IBM, LSE, and Nomura were among the Hedera governance council members.

While blockchains are designed to form a single longest chain, hashgraphs do not prune their forks and incorporate every container of transactions into the ledger.

According to Hedera, hashgraphs are limited only by the bandwidth, which means that the network can handle as high transactions per second as long as the network nodes have enough bandwidth to download and upload a given number of transactions per second.

According to Chainspect, Hedera’s maximum recorded TPS was 3,287 TPS.

6. Aptos (APT)

Aptos is a L1 blockchain developed by the team that created Meta’s crypto project called Libra. However, the Libra project was abandoned after government regulators opposed it.

What followed next was Aptos — a decentralized blockchain network operated and developed by its community. Aptos is built to achieve high throughput and low latency with its parallel transaction execution design.

According to Chainspect, Aptos’s maximum recorded TPS was 7,480 TPS.

5. EOS Network (EOS)

EOS Network is a PoS L1 that looks to scale horizontally by deploying sidechains.

The EOS Network is powered by an open-source protocol called Antelope that is also used in other blockchains such as Telos, WAX and UX Network.

Antelope’s Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC) interoperability solution allows horizontal scaling using multiple blockchains.

According to the EOS Network Foundation, EOS is capable of handling over 10,000 TPS.

4. Sei (SEI)

Sei is a L1 blockchain that takes the best features from Solana and Ethereum to become ‘the first parallelized EVM-compatible network in the world’.

According to Sei, the network represents a 100x improvement on existing EVMs by allowing multiple independent transactions to be executed at the same time in a process called parallelization.

Sei’s current version has consistently seen network throughput at over 45 TPS. Its v2 upgrade will offer 28,300 batched TPS, said Sei.

3. MultiversX (EGLD)

MultiversX is a PoS L1 blockchain that is designed to scale horizontally via sharding.

Sharding allows MultiversX to parallelize data processing and transaction execution across its platforms.

In August 2023, MultiversX showcased transaction throughput of 30,000 TPS.

2. The Open Network (TON)

Originally known as the Telegram Open Network, TON blockchain is a crypto project created by messaging company Telegram. In 2020, the company was forced to return $1.2 billion to initial coin offering (ICO) investors after the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged the company with “unregistered offering of digital tokens.”

Today, TON exists as an open-source L1 blockchain run by its community. Telegram still remains associated with the project.

TON aims to be a blockchain capable of handling “millions of transactions per second.” It looks to achieve its goal via a scaling solution called sharding.

TON is actually made up of a collection of blockchains. A single master blockchain exists, from which numerous secondary blockchains branch out.

According to the TON Foundation, the TON blockchain achieved 104,715 TPS in a performance test conducted in 2023.

1. Sui (SUI)

Sui is a L1 blockchain that aims to offer users high throughput, low lat,ency and cheap predictable transaction fees.

The blockchain uses PoS consensus mechanism and executes transactions in parallel. According to Sui, its validators can scale themselves horizontally and increase their transaction throughput by adding more computing power.

According to the Sui Foundation, Sui network achieved peak throughput ranging from from 10,871 TPS to 297,000 TPS with 100 globally distributed validators.

The Bottom Line

Bons is an ardent critic of Ethereum’s rollup-centric scaling roadmap and the L1s mentioned above present an alternative approach where blockchain are designed to scale the base layer.

As you may have noticed, parallel execution and sharding were common properties among the blockchains mentioned above.

In a future world where transactions are carried out on-chain by large swathes of the population, being able to carry out masses of transactions instantly without slowdown, gas fees, or cracking under pressure is essential.

Hence we’re back to the blockchain trilemma — but each day, dozens of projects push forward in solving it.