This is a segment from the Lightspeed newsletter. To read full editions, subscribe.
As Solana continues to cement itself as the most performant layer-1 blockchain by speed and cost, some crypto developers have gained an interest in using the technology underpinning Solana to launch new blockchains of their own.
To wit, there are around two dozen of these Solana Virtual Machine chains — counting layer-1s, layer-2s built on various other blockchains, and application-specific chains. But for simplicity’s sake, here are the layer-1s trying to out-Solana Solana:
Fogo
Fogo is a forthcoming layer-1 that says it wants to push the SVM’s performance to its limits by only running the Firedancer validator client on a permissioned validator set with multi-local consensus.
If that sounds like word salad, just know that Fogo’s bet is that with a fork of Jump’s open-source Firedancer code and a couple tradeoffs around decentralization, Solana’s software can be even more performant.
The layer-1 raised $8 million at a $100 million valuation via the crypto crowdfunding platform Echo.
Pythnet
The popular Solana oracle Pyth runs an SVM app chain where Pyth operators who provide price data run validators, and the protocol aggregates prices.
Pythnet is the oldest on the list: Remarkably, Pyth shipped its SVM chain in August of 2022.
Since it’s a blockchain for data, this chain is less consumer-facing than others, but it’s an interesting decentralized way to stream price data — and the product has been live for nearly three years.
Solayer
Solayer initially fundraised and launched as a Solana restaking protocol, but after Jito entered the restaking race — and as restaking became less buzzy, to put it bluntly — Solayer pivoted to launching its own layer-1 powered by its InfiniSVM.
Solayer’s documentation and leadership have claimed that it can achieve one million transactions per second at points, although some Solana developers dispute Solayer’s performance figures.
JupNet
The Solana DeFi giant Jupiter began teasing JupNet in January as an “omnichain network that aims to aggregate all of crypto in one single decentralized ledger.”
Little is yet known about JupNet, but Jupiter co-founder meow said in a blog post that its so-called Jupiter SVM has validators come to agreement on both internal Solana transactions and external transactions from other blockchains.
Jupiter has greatly expanded its business via acquisitions in recent months, but JupNet may be its most ambitious venture yet.
Cube
Cube Exchange is building an SVM L1, co-founder Bartosz Lipinski confirmed to me in a Telegram message.
Thru
This one barely counts since Thru will be built on a new virtual machine called the ThruVM, but a lot of the intrigue around this brand new project comes from the fact that its co-founder, Liam Heeger, was previously a core engineer working on Solana’s Firedancer client.
So with the Firedancer credentials, Thru ekes out a spot on the list.
