The race to be the Layer 1 crown is officially on – and for investors, the heat means opportunity.

Ethereum [ETH] is setting the stage with its upcoming Pectra upgrade, but Binance Chain [BNB] isn't just sitting on the sidelines. The stakes? Never been higher.

The race for the Layer 1 crown is officially on - and for investors, the heat means opportunity.

Ethereum [ETH] is setting the stage with its upcoming Pectra upgrade, but Binance Chain [BNB] isn’t just sitting on the sidelines. The stakes? Never been higher.

After months of anticipation, Pectra - the fifth and final stage of Shanghai’s upgrade - is finally setting foot on the L1 scene. This time around, it’s bringing a triple threat: EIP-7470 for introducing programmable units of account, EIP-6884 for adjusting the difficulty bombs, and EIP-8649 to streamline the introduction of new EVM opcodes.

Now, these changes are no small feat. They’re designed to enhance Ethereum’s smart contract capabilities, adjust mining parameters for optimal performance, and lay the groundwork for future upgrades with new EVM opcodes.

But over in the Binance Chain camp, they’ve been busy too, unveiling the Lorentz hard fork on the 29th of April. This time, it’s all about speed and efficiency. Block intervals have been reduced to 1.5 seconds, which translates to faster consensus, quicker confirmations, and less waiting time for users.

On the DeFi side, BNB Chain is claiming the fourth spot in the Total Value Locked (TVL) ranking with $9.34 billion, while Ethereum is still leading the way at $122 billion.

However, BNB Chain has managed to outpace Ethereum in terms of daily transaction fees on multiple occasions this year, highlighting the high level of activity on its network.

Source: Artemis Terminal

Moreover, Resolv Labs has expanded into the BNB Chain ecosystem, introducing its USR stablecoin and RLP risk-buffer token to the chain. These additions further diversify and deepen the DeFi landscape on BNB Chain.

In terms of user engagement, BNB Chain is seeing an average of 1.06 million active addresses, comfortably outpacing Ethereum’s 376k. This signifies a larger and more engaged user base on BNB Chain.

Now, while Ethereum is known for its vibrant developer community, with 138 developers actively working on the chain compared to BNB Chain’s 24, it seems that BNB Chain is quickly closing the gap in terms of development activity.

As for the token prices, both ETH and BNB have seen some movement. ETH is currently trading at $1,524, down slightly from yesterday. On the other hand, BNB has seen a rise, going up 1.46% in the past 24 hours and trading at $250.

Despite a 20% decline from its all-time high, BNB has shown resilience and potential for recovery, especially considering the persistent presence of whale orders, according to CryptoQuant’s data.

Throughout 2023, the average size of spot orders on Binance has remained substantial, showcasing the continued interest and large-scale trading activity by whales in the platform’s native token.

The chart below clearly shows how the average size of G+ order is crucial to identify strong trends.

[chart]

As seen in the chart above, there was a period of time when the average size of G+ order dropped drastically, which signaled a shift in market dynamics.

After several months of high average order size, it began to decline notably in March 2023, falling below $10 million for the first time since November 2022.

This decrease coincided with a downturn in the price of BNB, which had previously been on a strong uptrend, reaching a peak of around $720 in Q4 2022.

However, despite the decline in average order size and a slight correction in price, the token remained in a range, and the large presence of whale orders continued to influence price movements.

This is evident in the chart below, which shows how whenever the average size of G+ order dipped below $5 million, the price usually bounced back up.

[chart]

This pattern suggests that when whales reduced their activity and order size, the price tended to drop, but it usually recovered afterward as long as the average size of G+ order remained above $5 million.

This observation highlights the significant role that whales play in shaping the price trends of cryptocurrencies, especially within the context of a token’s fundamental strength and broader market conditions.

Moreover, it’s worth noting that the token’s price remained in a range throughout 2023, even after the decline in average order size and the presence of small order size less than $5 million.

This resilience is a testament to the token’s underlying strength and the continued interest from investors at various levels.

Overall, while Ethereum’s Pectra upgrade is certainly noteworthy, Binance Chain’s own pace of innovation and the impressive engagement figures