Top 5 Blockchains to Watch in 2024 as the Crypto Industry Heats Up

BlackRock’s launch of the first Bitcoin spot ETF in January has reignited interest in the wider blockchain industry, sparking more institutional investment and renewed enthusiasm for crypto industries such as DeFi, GameFi, NFTs and more.

With crypto prices on the rise again, many believe that yet more growth is on the horizon as we approach summer 2024, so what better time to take a look at some of the most promising blockchains to watch out for right now?

Here are five blockchains that we believe could be set for a big 2024:

1. Polygon

2. Merlin Chain

3. Fetch.ai

4. Nolus

5. R3 Corda

Polygon is perhaps the most recognizable Layer-2 scaling network for Ethereum, making it possible for EVM developers to rapidly scale their dApps. Its network is linked to the Ethereum blockchain and is compatible with any project built on that chain. Its primary purpose is to boost the scalability, flexibility and sovereignty of Ethereum dApps, while still providing strong security and full interoperability with the world’s top smart contract blockchain. Polygon’s native ERC-20 token is MATIC, which is compatible with other ERC-20 tokens, and provides utility such as paying gas fees, securing the network and governance.

Polygon has emerged as one of the most prominent Ethereum scaling networks because of its rapid speed, which results from its carbon-neutral consensus mechanism that’s able to confirm transactions in a single block, with an average block processing time of just 39.7 seconds. It also offers consistently low gas fees and interoperability with Ethereum’s massive ecosystem. As the host network of thousands of dApps and also stablecoins such as Tether and USDC, Polygon has attracted interest from well known companies such as Meta Platforms, Stripe and banks like Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse. Given its already strong foundation, it’s poised to grow immensely if and when the broader crypto industry takes off.

Merlin Chain is a Layer-2 network that aims to bring the magic of DeFi, GameFi, community coins and more to the Bitcoin ecosystem. The project is being developed by Bitmap Tech and aims to shake up Bitcoin by introducing genuine utility for the world’s most famous crypto asset. It does this with a number of technical innovations, including its use of ZK-Rollups to boost the efficiency, security, and scalability of Bitcoin. Another component is its use of on-scale fraud-proof mechanisms that works by reverifying each transaction proof that has already been verified by its ZK-Rollups to ensure no mistakes. There’s also a segregated oracle network that runs in the background. Merlin leverages the Decentralized Oracle Network to fetch data from external sources, so its smart contracts can leverage this information to bring more utility to Bitcoin-native assets.

Merlin’s native token is MERL, which is used for governance, transactions, and more, enabling users to interact with its growing ecosystem of dApps and vote on various issues up for discussion within the community. Most exciting is the rapid build-out of Merlin’s ecosystem, with many projects building on its platform that enable Bitcoin holders to utilize their BTC in exciting new ways. They include infrastructure projects such as GeniiData, which is a native script data platform, and UniCross, an engraving tool for Bitcoin ordinals. Others include the BTC-native stablecoin BitSmiley, the AMM trading protocol Surf Protocol, and community coin-focused projects such as VOYA and HUHU. Merlin is also making waves in SocialFi with Influpia and in GameFi with Bitmap War.

A list of blockchains for 2024 wouldn’t be complete without a mention of AI, which is the hottest trend in tech today. Fetch.ai has created an AI blockchain that aims to take legacy systems and applications and help them to integrate AI capabilities and services. Besides hosting the infrastructure for AI, Fetch.ai also offers access to numerous AI agents that perform tasks such as connecting, searching, transacting and creating content, allowing them to help humans complete all kinds of work. Developers can build on these AI agents, customizing them to perform many different jobs.

The network is powered by the FET token, which is a sovereign Layer-1 coin that has seen its value grow enormously this year, among the best performing cryptocurrencies in 2024 to date. One reason for that recent growth may be the launch of DeltaV, which is described as an “open platform for the new AI economy”. It’s a search-based AI chat interface powered by Fetch.ai’s agents, and is capable of understanding written conversations, similar to ChatGPT, providing cohesive responses to almost any query. It’s primarily designed as a kind of virtual assistant for e-commerce platforms, enabling them to integrate a comprehensive chat experience that can help shoppers to find the items they’re looking for by describing them with natural language.

The AI industry is accelerating fast and as the need for decentralized models becomes more apparent, Fetch.ai has a fantastic opportunity to increase its relevance.

Nolus is transforming DeFi with the concept of “leasing”, enabling users to secure more capital upfront than what they currently own,