Inside the Layer 1 (L1) sector, 01 September 2026

Sector Composition and Concentration

As of 01 September 2026, the Layer 1 (L1) sector covered 112 constituents with a combined market capitalisation of $2.27 trillion. Concentration within the sector is pronounced: Bitcoin alone accounted for approximately $1.56 trillion, or roughly 69% of the total, as of that date. The next-largest member, Ethereum, contributed approximately $293 billion, bringing the two largest names to around 81% of the sector total. The remaining 13 members shown span a range from roughly $92 billion (BNB) down to approximately $3.7 billion (Gram, prev. Toncoin), with the full 112-constituent universe implying many smaller holdings not individually itemised here.

Fee Stream Availability

Of the 15 largest members listed, 11 carry a reported annualised fee figure derived from the trailing 30 days to 01 September 2026, while 4 do not: XRP, Monero, Bitcoin Cash, and Gram (prev. Toncoin) each show a null fee entry. The reported annualised fee figures vary widely across those that do carry one, from approximately $139,000 (Litecoin) to approximately $594 million (Canton), illustrating that the presence of a fee figure does not itself imply comparability in fee scale. Readers should note that a null entry reflects a data limitation, not a confirmed absence of network fees.

Distance from All-Time Highs

The spread of drawdowns from each asset's all-time high, as recorded on 01 September 2026, is wide. Hyperliquid sat closest to its peak at 5.4% below its all-time high, while Cardano and Bitcoin Cash were each more than 93% below theirs. TRON showed the shallowest drawdown among the larger members at roughly 25%, whereas several mid-tier names—Stellar, Litecoin, Gram (prev. Toncoin)—registered drawdowns between 80% and 94%. Bitcoin stood approximately 39% below its all-time high over this period. This distribution indicates that the cohort does not behave as a uniform group relative to prior price peaks.

What the Sector Label Does and Does Not Convey

The designation Layer 1 groups networks that each operate a base-layer blockchain, but the label does not specify shared consensus mechanisms, fee models, throughput designs, governance structures, or intended use cases. Within these 15 members alone, the group includes proof-of-work chains, delegated proof-of-stake systems, and networks with enterprise or privacy-oriented architectures. Assets sharing a sector classification are therefore not necessarily comparable on operational, economic, or structural dimensions. The sector label is a categorical convenience that supports aggregation of market-cap figures—such as the $2.27 trillion total as of 01 September 2026—but it does not imply that constituent assets are substitutes for one another or that they face identical risk or revenue dynamics. Readers using sector-level figures should weigh this heterogeneity when interpreting any aggregate metric.