- A recent Grayscale report underscored the importance of blockchain networks that offer utility, with Chainlink, VeChain, Filecoin, Lido DAO and Render among those highlighted.
- Utility and service blockchain projects offer oracles to connect off-chain and on-chain worlds, offer liquid staking solutions, and aggregate physical data through decentralized networks.
Blockchain has evolved from underpinning purely speculative assets, and today, it offers real value to its ever-growing users. Championing this evolution are utility projects, and according to a recent Grayscale report, Chainlink, VeChain and Lido DAO are among the industry leaders.
Grayscale’s report explored some of the leading projects in value delivery, describing them as the “picks and shovels” of the crypto industry. These projects enhance the features of decentralized applications and allow them to scale seamlessly or connect and interoperate with on-chain and off-chain phenomena.
The Grayscale Utilities and Services Crypto Sector represents the “picks and shovels” for developers building in the crypto ecosystem. $LINK $LDO $FIL $HNT $RNDR
Read the full report: https://t.co/Ts7gHqxLZv pic.twitter.com/TUdDqdFrzj
— Grayscale (@Grayscale) March 27, 2024
As Grayscale noted, projects in this category have three main aims:
- Boost usability and liquidity of other crypto projects through liquid staking solutions — Lido DAO is a market leader in this category.
- Bridge real-world data to on-chain applications through oracles — this is Chainlink’s domain.
- Aggregate services and resources for consumers through decentralized networks — Filecoin is the best example.
Chainlink is the most dominant project in this category at $11.25 billion. Filecoin is second at $5.26 billion, with VeChain at $3.4 billion coming in third. Overall, web services dominate this sector, accounting for 30% of the combined market cap. This sub-sector is led by Filecoin, with others including The Graph and Render. Oracles are second at 20%, while enterprise applications account for 13%. Quant and VeChain lead the latter.
Grayscale acknowledged that while the cryptos in this category may not be the largest in market cap, they are critical to the progress of the industry. Oracles, for instance, have made on-chain applications able to rely on real-world data that was not possible before Chainlink’s debut in 2017.
The report noted:
In allowing dApps to seamlessly incorporate data from activity throughout the internet, oracles exponentially expand the use cases of crypto.
This category also offers the most formidable alternatives to tech giants’ continued monopolization of critical services. Cloud services, for instance, are dominated by Amazon’s AWS and Google Cloud. However, some blockchain projects are taking on these giants and offering decentralized alternatives.
Nice to see #VeChain included @Grayscale’s ‘Utilities and Services’ report.#Blockchain will change everything – we’re proud to be a leader. $VET https://t.co/bdC1dxdpCs
— vechain (@vechainofficial) March 29, 2024
The report added:
…this sector plays a pivotal role in offering decentralized alternatives to services that have traditionally been monopolized by tech giants. In crypto, web services connect individuals seeking various services with independent providers of these services.
Meanwhile, the prices of these service-providing projects have recorded gains in the past week. Chainlink’s LINK has gained 10% in the past seven days to trade at $19.14 at press time.
VeChain has made more significant gains, surging 19.16% in the past week to trade at 0.04713 at press time, with analysts predicting bigger gains, as Crypto News Flash reported. Quant has gained 14%, while Filecoin’s FIL has gained 17%.
