A Fundamental Look At Elrond

SummaryElrond is a layer 1 blockchain that aims to address the scalability issues plaguing larger chains like Ethereum.The chain utilizes a Secure-Proof-of-Work consensus mechanism that randomizes and shuffles sharded nodes.While the chain construction is interesting, the network activity is underwhelming. There is virtually no DeFi footprint and trading volume is lower than peers.As the cryptocurrency market continues to mature, we have generally seen some of the newer smart contract-focused blockchain projects trying to address scalability issues from Ethereum (ETH-USD). There are essentially two ways to go about this problem; create a level 2 solution that uses Ethereum's base layer for security or make a competing base layer chain entirely. A quick glance at the top 15 coins by market cap shows each of these approaches has had some level of success so far. MC Rank Network Layer 5 Binance (BNB-USD) Base Layer 8 Cardano (ADA-USD) Base Layer 9 Solana (SOL-USD) Base Layer 13 Polygon (MATIC-USD) ETH Scaling Source: CoinMarketCapWhile we certainly see a proliferation of new base layer blockchains, the approach to solving the scalability problem is often different. For instance, Avalanche (AVAX-USD) has three different chains. AVAX breaks up transactions into categories and designates certain activities to specific chains to not bog down the entire network. Other chains try to implement "sharding" for scalability. Which...