After CKB transformed into BTC Layer2, its monthly increase exceeded 300%. What other old projects are changing their narratives?

Author: flowie, ChainCatcher

Editor: Marco, ChainCatcher

Although it is said that in a bull market, new projects are favored over old ones, some established projects that have weathered a long bear market are still finding buyers after returning to the table with new narratives.

Some projects have already begun to taste the sweetness of this shift. Arweave (AR) announced its transition from decentralized data storage to becoming an "Ethereum killer," resulting in a 50% surge within 24 hours; Nervos Network (CKB) transformed from a UTXO-based Layer 1 to a hot Bitcoin Layer 2, seeing an increase of over 300% in nearly a month.

Currently, the booming sectors of Bitcoin Layer 2, AI, and DePIN are the focus of transformation for these established projects. ChainCatcher has compiled a list of projects that have recently changed their "clothes."

Arweave (AR) ------ From Storage to Supporting AI Parallel Computing and "Ethereum Killer"

Arweave (AR), founded in 2017, is a well-established decentralized storage network. On February 27, Eastern Time, Arweave's core ecological institution, Forward Research, held an online conference to officially launch the decentralized parallel computing layer AO based on the Arweave permanent storage network, designed for social media and AI computing layers.

Subsequently, its native token AR saw a series of price breakthroughs, rising from around $15 to a peak of $39.6, and currently retracing to $36.9, more than doubling in value.

The surge in AR's price may be attributed to two major narrative highlights in the AO testnet. First, AO is a super parallel computer that allows any number of processes to run simultaneously, similar to Ethereum's "supercomputer" claim. Arweave founder Williams also asserted that Arweave AO is confident in competing with Ethereum, branding itself as an "Ethereum competitor."

Additionally, Arweave AO allows AI and large language models (LLMs) to run directly within smart contracts, aligning with the popular AI + Crypto narrative. Williams stated that the difference between Arweave AO and other high-performance blockchains like Aptos and Sui is its ability to support the storage of large amounts of data, such as AI models.

Currently, Arweave AO has launched its testnet, with major projects in the Arweave ecosystem, including everPay, MEM, Warp, and Permaswap, announcing plans to connect to the AO test network.

Recommended Reading: “Over 50% Surge in 24 Hours, Is Arweave Going to Be the 'Ethereum Killer'?”

Nervos (CKB) ------ From UTXO-based Layer 1 to Bitcoin Layer 2

Nervos Network (CKB) was established in 2018 and is one of China's star public chains, specifically designed as a Layer 1 solution for Layer 2.

The Nervos team is considered a star team, with architect Xie Hanjian, who co-developed Casper and Sharding with Vitalik Buterin, and founding team members including Terry Tai, a core developer of the Huobi exchange, and Daniel, former CTO of Huobi and co-founder of imToken.

Nervos Network raised a total of $100 million in funding in 2018 and 2019, with participation from well-known investment institutions such as Sequoia China, Wanxiang Blockchain, and China Merchants International.

Since the second half of 2022, Nervos has been relatively quiet, but by the end of 2023, it re-emerged with a positioning shift to Bitcoin Layer 2, gaining attention due to its differentiated technical route.

Currently, while the Bitcoin Layer 2 sector is very hot, there are not many related concept tokens available for selection. CKB has taken advantage of this trend, with its token rising 328% in the past month.

Recently, RGB++ released its roadmap, planning to launch by the end of March, supporting the issuance and trading of NFTs and FTs. Additionally, CKB will launch its Layer 2 Lightning Network by the end of this year, integrating RGB++.

Recommended Reading: “From RGB to RGB++: How CKB Empowers Bitcoin Ecological Asset Protocols”

MAP Protocol (MAP) ------ From Full-Chain Interoperability Protocol to Bitcoin Layer 2

MAP Protocol was established in 2018 and was previously a full-chain interoperability protocol comparable to LayerZero. It developed ZK Lightclient technology to solve the unification problem of various signatures and hash algorithms, aiming to address peer-to-peer cross-chain challenges between heterogeneous chains.

Starting in December 2023, MAP Protocol transformed itself and announced multiple rounds of financing as a Bitcoin Layer 2. MAP first announced funding from Waterdrip Capital and DWF Labs in December 2023, followed by strategic financing from LK Venture, Ticker Capital, Alchemy Pay, and Bitrise Capital in January 2024, although the amounts were not disclosed.

The native token MAP saw a significant increase from $0.0081 to $0.046 after the announcement of the strategic investment from Waterdrip Capital on December 7, 2023, marking a 467% rise, though it has since retraced to $0.032.

Currently, MAP Protocol is positioned as an interoperability layer for Bitcoin Layer 2 built on ZK light clients. It claims not to compete directly with other Layer 2s but to lock in value through cross-chain interoperability. In the past month, it has established partnerships with a large number of Bitcoin Layer 2s, including Merlin Chain, B² Network, and BEVM.

Recently, its other native token $MAPO has also been listed on two major exchanges, Gate and Bitget. ($MAP and $MAPO are both native tokens of the MAP protocol. They are the same token but are distinguished by different codes based on their respective chains.)

Additionally, MAP Protocol recently announced a dual-token staking mining activity with the inscription asset lending protocol Tonka Finance. Users can stake $TOKA and $MAP assets in a 6:1 ratio in the dual mining pool to earn higher $esTOKA token rewards and have the opportunity to receive additional $MAP token rewards.

BEVM/ChainX ------ From Bitcoin Cross-Chain to Bitcoin Layer 2

BEVM was formerly known as ChainX, which was established in 2018 as a Bitcoin cross-chain project within the Polkadot ecosystem. In 2020, it aimed for a strategic upgrade to Bitcoin Layer 2, but subsequently, ChainX did not succeed as planned.

Until the Bitcoin ecosystem exploded in 2023, the project upgraded and rebranded to BEVM. Recently, crypto investment firm ViaBTC Capital announced its investment in BEVM. According to RootData, Waterdrip Capital is also an investor in BEVM.

According to the official blog, BEVM plans to launch its mainnet by the end of the first quarter of 2024.

POKT Network (POKT)/Grove ------ From Decentralized AWS to DePIN + AI

POKT Network was established in 2017 as a decentralized RPC node network, claiming to be the decentralized version of AWS, similar to Infura. In 2022, POKT Network raised $10 million in funding led by RockTree Capital and Republic Capital.

In November 2023, Pocket Network disclosed a new round of funding of $7.9 million from Avon Ventures, Druid Ventures, and Placeholder. In this funding announcement, Pocket Network has been renamed Grove and is positioned as a decentralized physical infrastructure (DePIN) provider, claiming to use the funds to establish new partnerships and drive DePIN towards mainstream adoption.

Essentially, Pocket Network remains a decentralized RPC node network, but it incentivizes RPC nodes from different blockchain networks to join through the POKT token, while demanders request data or send transactions to RPC nodes via the POKT network, aligning with the DePIN narrative.

After transitioning to the DePIN narrative in November last year, its native token POKT surged from $0.078 to a peak of $0.29, currently retracing to $0.20, marking a 156% increase.

In addition to the DePIN narrative, Pocket is also attempting to integrate with AI narratives. Recently, Pocket announced the establishment of AI use cases.

Recommended Reading: “POKT Network: The DePIN Veteran is Moving Towards AI Narratives”

Theta Network (THETA) ------ From Decentralized Streaming to DePIN + AI

Theta Network was established in 2017 as an on-chain decentralized video streaming platform. In 2017, Theta Network raised $20 million in funding led by Danhua Capital, and in 2019, it received investments from Samsung Next and Blockchain.com.

After the second half of 2022, there were not many updates or actions until the end of 2023. In December 2023, Theta Network announced that DWF Labs committed to providing $1 million to the Theta Labs ecosystem to focus on advancing its latest innovation, Theta Edgecloud.

On January 28 of this year, Theta Network announced its roadmap for 2024, stating that it will launch the first phase of the cloud computing platform EdgeCloud on May 1, 2024, with a fully decentralized Theta EdgeCloud set to be officially released in 2025.

According to reports, EdgeCloud is a hybrid cloud computing platform based on a distributed edge architecture, operated by cloud hosting nodes from Theta Labs. These nodes will run AI video and image generation models and other AI modeling-related tasks, providing a range of AI technology application values for its partners and the Theta community.

Theta Network's native token THETA surged from around $1.2 at the end of February to around $3 currently, marking a 150% increase.

Recommended Reading: “Will There Be Miracles in the DePIN Sector in 2024? Some Projects Announce Major Products Coming Soon”

Gelato Network ------ From Web3 Relay Network to RaaS Provider

Gelato Network was established in 2019 as an automation and relay network for Web3, enabling developers to automatically execute various arbitrary smart contracts across all EVM-compatible blockchains (such as Ethereum).

Gelato has raised over $250 million in funding, with investors including IOSG Ventures, Dragonfly, and Galaxy Digital.

In the second half of last year, Gelato began transitioning to a RaaS platform, seemingly preparing for the upcoming Cancun upgrade narrative.

In the Cancun upgrade, RaaS providers for building Layer 2 networks are one of the favorable sectors. Recently, the launch of ALT has once again attracted crypto users' attention to the RaaS sector.

Gelato's RaaS service, built on the OP Stack, supports developers in quickly building an OpL2 without code. Gelato has also configured a series of blockchain infrastructure, such as blockchain explorers and testnet faucets, further lowering the costs and barriers to launching chains, making it plug-and-play. Among them, networks like Loot Chain, Manta Pacific, and Rari Chain are all built with technical support from Caldera.

Recommended Reading: “Metrics Ventures Research Report: Will Gelato Experience a New Surge by Entering the RaaS Sector?”

CowSwap ------ From DEX Aggregator to Intent Narrative

CowSwap was established in 2020 as a DEX aggregator, trading with MEV protection features.

In 2022, CowSwap raised $23 million in a private funding round, with participation from 1kx, Blockchain Capital, Robot Ventures, and SevenX Ventures.

In the second half of 2023, Paradigm popularized the concept of intent. Shortly after, Uniswap X was launched, focusing on the realization of trading intent. However, it quickly faced controversy over copying CoWSwap and 1inch. CoWSwap directly pointed out that it was the pioneer of Intent Based Trading.

Conclusion

From the above-mentioned established projects that have changed their narratives, most of them have added popular narrative use cases based on their existing businesses to achieve the goal of narrative switching, with some alignment between their past businesses and new narratives.

In addition, many other established projects are gaining attention by launching new projects around new narratives. For example, mining company Marathon and Layer 1 blockchain Conflux have both announced the launch of Bitcoin Layer 2. Conflux also saw a brief 10% increase in its token price after announcing the launch of Bitcoin Layer 2.

As the narrative sectors rotate in a bull market, it is expected that many established projects will gain presence by closely following new narratives. Will you be buying into them?