Foresight’s article “The Great Washout of Public Blockchains” points to a dataset shared on X that compares fundraising totals with current daily revenue for a group of blockchains and layer-2 networks, excluding Ethereum. The revenue figures in the article are for July 29.
Ranked by funds raised, the projects listed in the piece are:
- EOS: $4.2 billion raised; $0 in daily revenue
- Flow: $746 million; $4 in daily revenue
- zkSync: $458 million; $270 in daily revenue
- 0G: $357 million; $3 in daily revenue
- Tezos: $286 million; $29 in daily revenue
- Somnia: $257 million; $400 in daily revenue
- Celestia: $156 million; $58 in daily revenue
- Polkadot: $145 million; $0 in daily revenue
- Berachain: $142 million; $30 in daily revenue
- Walrus: $140 million; $325 in daily revenue
The article says the list captures most, though not all, of the chains that raised large sums over the past several years. Its author writes that the figures were hard to believe at first glance: several once-prominent chains are now generating less than $500 a day, and some former marquee projects are at zero.
From there, the piece frames the data as a way to revisit the development arc of crypto infrastructure. In its telling, if these smart-contract layer-1s are grouped by type and placed in sequence, they sketch a short history of the sector’s major narratives.
From EOS to Polkadot: the rise and fade of early Ethereum challengers
The article starts with 2017, when Ethereum’s smart contracts showed major force during the ICO boom. That period gave rise to projects represented by EOS, which launched in 2018. Their main pitch was clear: attack Ethereum’s weak points at the time, namely low efficiency, slow speed, and high costs. In that era, they were branded as “Ethereum killers.”
After that narrative lost force, the community began pushing the idea that Ethereum should not dominate the entire ecosystem. The article says a new generation of blockchains then emerged, represented by Polkadot and Cosmos. Polkadot launched in 2020, while Cosmos launched in 2019. Their goal was to build a multi-chain network that could break concentration and connect separate chains.
Even so, the author says those ecosystems, while real to a degree, were soon overshadowed by the surge of DeFi and NFTs.
Vertical narratives: NFT, DeFi, and AI-specific chains
As new themes such as DeFi and NFTs took hold, some teams began asking a different question, according to the article. If it was no longer realistic to rebuild a full Ethereum-like ecosystem in the general-purpose market, could a chain built for a narrower segment break out instead?
In the NFT segment, the article points to Flow. Flow launched in 2020 and aimed to serve NFT and gaming ecosystems. The piece notes that NBA Top Shot on Flow once ranked at the top of the NFT space.
In DeFi, it highlights Berachain, described in the article as a layer-1 chain trying to provide unified liquidity, with 2025 given as the time reference.
In AI, the article points to 0G. It says that after AI began to take off, the market saw the emergence of a layer-1 blockchain intended specifically for the AI ecosystem, with 0G launching in 2025.
The author’s conclusion is blunt. No matter how compelling those narratives once looked, the revenue figures now shown in the dataset suggest that these smart-contract layer-1 chains have largely become “ghost towns.”
The article’s three main conclusions
Based on the figures, the piece lays out three points.
First, the crypto ecosystem simply does not need so many smart-contract layer-1 blockchains.
Second, building a functioning chain ecosystem is extremely difficult. Narrative by itself is not enough; the network must support an economy that actually produces revenue. If that does not happen, the article argues, the outcome is effectively sealed.
Third, while the market still has no widely accepted standard for valuing smart-contract blockchains, the author says actual revenue has to be one of the core inputs. The article compares this to corporate performance, arguing that even the most attractive story cannot hold up forever without hard operating results behind it.
A cycle the author expects to repeat
The article closes by saying the dataset also points to a pattern that could surface again and again. Each time a new market narrative appears, new teams are likely to build a layer-1 specifically for that theme, and those chains may win large venture backing on the strength of team credentials and technical claims.
It notes that the market has already seen layer-1s pitched specifically for DeFi, for NFTs, and for AI. The article then extends that logic forward, saying future waves could bring chains built for quantum computing or even for space.
The reference link cited in the article is: https://x.com/top7ico/status/2082437369156825543.