Investors are watching market movements with keen interest as Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration date draws close.
Many expect the incoming president to issue favorable executive orders for the crypto industry within his first day in office. Accordingly, popular crypto expert Nicholas Merten has identified three layer 1 networks he believes would perform exceptionally this year after Trump resumes office.
These layer 1s are Ethereum (ETH), Sui (SUI), and Solana (SOL). Merten based his predictions on these blockchains’ performance metrics, price action, and adoption trends.
This Layer 1 Blockchain Remains Behind Bitcoin
The expert noted that ETH’s value against Bitcoin (BTC) has declined since reaching a peak in 2021. Despite its solid fundamentals (boosted by DeFi adoption and stablecoin liquidity), Ethereum faces strong competition from layer-2 chains such as Arbitrum and Optimism, reducing its app revenue and network activities.
However, institutional interest, Marten says, a strong ecosystem, and the increasing developer count make Ethereum an attractive choice for investors in 2025, mostly for cautious, risk-off investors because of how reliable it is in terms of security and decentralization.
Marten advised traders and investors to wait for more confirmatory trends before investing in the coin, considering it has underperformed compared to faster-moving assets like BTC, XRP, and SOL.
SOL’s Price Action
The expert noted that SOL has maintained a neutral price action with BTC in the last four years, making it a stronger performer than ETH. The surge in its app revenue, stablecoin liquidity, and other key metrics has boosted the blockchain’s performance.
Last November, Solana reached $80 million in daily fees (its highest ever) and continues to post strong daily revenues even when the market moves slowly. DeFiLlama data shows that the Solana network recorded its highest app revenue of $13.86 million on Nov. 22, 2024.
Merten believes these performances have caused SOL to surpass ETH based on price performance. Solana’s developer-friendly tools would attract investors seeking to launch and scale their projects easily and cost-effectively.
Also, the possible approval of a spot SOL ETF in the US provides reasons for Solana to become a top performer in 2025. DeFiLlama data showed that Solana’s average TVL has risen in the last 12 months, indicating significant investor interest in the protocol.
Sui Network: The Risky but Interesting Investment
Despite being in the early stages of development and a newcomer to the blockchain industry, Sui Network remains attractive to investors due to its technology, allowing for a massive throughput of over 200,000 transactions per second, parallel execution, a robust tech stack for developers, and much more.
While it has massive potential, this layer 1 has yet to achieve mass adoption. Despite the hype surrounding Sui, it has not recorded notable growth in key metrics like app usage and stablecoin liquidity to rival Ethereum or Solana.
However, the layer 1’s price gains, which have seen it outperform SOL, show its growth potential. Crypto data aggregator CoinCodex predicts SUI will trade at $16.65 by Feb. 2025, an almost 229% rise from its current price.
According to CoinGecko data, the token currently trades at $4.87. Sui is expected to gain prominence in 2025 primarily because it will be used for specific use cases that want to achieve scalability without huge costs. Hence, Merten called SUI a risky but exciting investment for those optimistic about this layer 1’s potential.
Disclaimer
This article is provided for information only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
