Despite the crypto market being in bullish momentum, not all the assets are performing the same. Recently, Ethereum has been suffering significant setbacks, especially when compared to upcoming tokens.
Among these, Solana and TON have outperformed Ethereum, and could eventually challenge its position. At the same time, the Elluminex DeFi hub is racing toward capturing the TON DeFi space.
Ethereum Faces Setbacks As L2s Grow
Ethereum (ETH) has had a rough year, with slower performance than most other major assets. For instance, the token was up by almost half last year, climbing to its current level of $3,118.61. This is significant, as Bitcoin, a much larger asset, saw more than double growth in that period.
The main reason for Ethereum’s slow growth is a change in its tokenomics that came with the rise of layer-2 networks. These networks are supposed to help prevent congestion on Ethereum, by offloading network traffic. Still, they also had an unintended effect, by reducing Ethereum’s gas fee income.
As a portion of Ethereum gas fees goes toward burning ETH, this has had a noticeable effect on its inflation rates. With fewer tokens going out of circulation, the amount of Ethereum in circulation has been steadily growing. Due to this reason, Ethereum has seen a relatively slow performance this year.
Still, layer-2 networks are an important part of Ethereum’s long-term strategy. Thanks to less congestion, developers can focus on building applications with real use cases. At the same time, Ethereum’s ecosystem is still dominant, accounting for more than half of all DeFi total value locked. This means that the network is not out of the race yet.
Solana Goes Viral With Trump Token
“Ethereum-killer” Solana (SOL) is slowly climbing in crypto rankings as its ecosystem grows. The token has seen several major developments recently, which demonstrate its key role in the DeFi space. For one, Solana is currently the undisputed leader of meme coins.
In January, Solana reached its all-time high of $294.33, on surprising memecoin news. Notably, President Donald Trump launched his Official Trump (TRUMP) token on Solana. This caused significant excitement, as the token quickly reached $10 billion in market cap. Critically for Solana, this move also cemented its position in the memecoin space.
Still, Solana is often a target of criticism due to its perceived centralization. Running a node on the network is incredibly costly, meaning that only the biggest validators are consistently profitable. Others rely on grants from the Solana Foundation, or shady tactics such as sandwich attacks against network users.
Elluminex Set To Conquer TON’s DeFi Market
Another Ethereum challenger is TON, a blockchain with a key edge over most others. Unlike most other chains, TON has the backing of Telegram, which gives it access to over 950 million users. What is more, TON recently gained a boost thanks to the launch of its own DeFi hub Elluminex (ELX).
Elluminex is a DEX that aims to connect TON with over 40 major blockchains. Thanks to a network of cross-chain bridges, Elluminex will bring much-needed liquidity to TON. This will help reduce slippage, bringing in more traders to the TON ecosystem.
At the same time, Elluminex has a range of advanced features for traders. Its AI Portfolio Tracker will help level the playing field for traders. Notably, it will offer real-time, actionable insights, helping traders stay on top of trends. Thanks to these features, Elluminex could take over TON’s growing ecosystem, positioning itself for significant growth.
For more information about Elluminex (ELX) visit the links below:
Website: https://elluminex.com
Twitter/X: https://x.com/elluminex
Telegram: https://t.me/Elluminex
