A review of 18 major L1 communities: Who has the strongest consensus?

Author: Ponyo : : FP

Belief, Action, Resilience, Density, or BARD, is a method I proposed in my previous article "What the Hell Is Community?" to measure the health and strength of crypto communities. In a market where hype often obscures reality, BARD focuses on the elements that truly sustain the crypto ecosystem: belief (referring to firm beliefs and ideas), action (the activity of real builders or users), resilience (the ability to withstand market fluctuations and setbacks), and density (network cohesion and social connections).

In this post, I’ll have ChatGPT use the BARD model to analyze 18 leading cryptocurrency communities for the period 2024-2025: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, Ripple, Cardano, Dogecoin, Movement, Tron, Ton, Aptos, Avax, Cosmos, BNB Chain, Berachain, Stacks, Polkadot, EOS, and Hyperliquid. Each project will be scored on a scale of 1-10 on each dimension.

Without further ado, here are the rankings.

BARD Score Overview

Below is a summary of the BARD scores for each blockchain project. These scores are based on current (2024-2025) ecosystem performance: staking and retention rates, developer and governance participation, cultural memes, social activity, and how the community is responding to recent market volatility.

The scores are subjective estimates given by ChatGPT based on current indicators and trends, for entertainment purposes only

Analysis of major Layer 1 blockchain communities

Ethereum (36 / 40): "Infinite roadmap, endless delays"

The Ethereum community is a unique blend of idealism and pragmatism. It unites builders, speculators, and idealists under an ambitious, diverse and inclusive philosophy that advocates decentralization, innovation, and the public interest. While recent governance tensions within the Ethereum Foundation have slightly blurred its mission clarity, Ethereum remains the unrivaled development hub in crypto, with the highest builder activity and deeply engaged social network in the world. In short, the Ethereum community has a rare combination of strong belief in its principles, sustained action, and tested resilience, making it the most dynamic network giant in crypto.

Bitcoin (35 / 40): "Fanatical digital gold worshippers with no sense of calm"

The Bitcoin community is the backbone of the crypto space, driven by a near-religious belief in decentralization and sound money. Although builders are slow to act, their advantage is their strong conviction and resilience: Bitcoin maximalists have held on to their positions regardless of regulatory storms or bear markets. They may not launch new features quickly, but in terms of conviction and staying power, Bitcoin is the top of the community.

Solana (34 / 40): "FTX PTSD Survivors Club"

The Solana community embodies tenacity and unremitting action. After the FTX debacle, network outages, and brutal market shakeouts, Solana’s loyalists have bounced back stronger than ever with a pragmatic belief in its technology and scalability. Today, it is once again a developer hotspot, leading a wave of new developers onboarding in 2024 and surging trading volume.

The Solana core community is vibrant, tight-knit, and self-identified, bound together by shared struggles and network memes. While slightly less ideologically cohesive than Bitcoin and Ethereum, Solana’s gritty, comeback-driven culture makes it a community characterized by action, resilience, and renewed ambition.

Ripple (33 / 40): “The Banker’s Token with a Victim Complex”

The XRP Army is one of the most battle-hardened and loyal groups in crypto, united by their belief that Ripple will revolutionize global finance. Although grassroots developers have limited actions, their advantage lies in their extraordinary resilience, having experienced regulatory battles, negative news and bear markets over the years without losing their faith. They may not produce much code, but their strong belief and unparalleled ability to withstand adversity ensure that the Ripple community remains a lasting and powerful force in the crypto space.

Cardano (31 / 40): "Peer-reviewed ghost chain"

In terms of patience, unity and pure belief in the concept, the Cardano community is unmatched in the crypto space. ADA holders are extremely loyal, with more than 60% of the total supply used for staking.

While the developer ecosystem still lags behind more dynamic competitors, Cardano's social network (which calls itself the "Cardano family") is close, active and cohesive. Their unwavering belief and resilience have enabled the network to thrive amid doubts, and community culture has become Cardano's strongest long-term advantage.

Polkadot (31 / 40): “Gavin’s Overengineered Dream”

The Polkadot community sets high standards for decentralization, governance participation, and long-term builder action. Led by founder Gavin Wood’s Web3 vision, Polkadot’s faithful believe in a multi-chain future built on interoperability and transparency.

While the hype has faded in recent cycles, the community has shown admirable resilience, patiently dealing with development delays and smoothly adapting to major governance changes. Polkadot’s community culture connects different parachain groups and remains cohesive and vibrant.

Berachain (29 / 40): “Honey-driven DeFi speculation frenzy”

The Berachain community challenges crypto logic: even before the mainnet was launched, fans were extremely loyal, closely connected by online memes, jokes, and the prospects of innovative DeFi mechanisms. Their belief has withstood multiple delays, locked up $3.1 billion in liquidity in the pre-launch phase, and created a lot of hype on X (Twitter) and Discord.

After the mainnet went live in February 2025, activity surged, but it is still in the early stages of speculative speculation. Although true resilience has not yet been stress-tested, the tight-knit community and meme-driven culture have created an extremely tight social and economic cohesion. It is small in scale but extremely united; it proves that sometimes, belief alone can build a strong community from scratch.

Dogecoin (29 / 40): "Crypto's favorite bad joke"

The Dogecoin community proves that online memes are more powerful than code. Based on pure, playful belief and humor, the Dogecoin army turned a joke into a lasting crypto phenomenon. Despite extremely low developer activity and scarce technical innovation, Dogecoin holders have shown extraordinary cultural resilience, rekindling their enthusiasm again and again through viral waves and celebrity hype (such as Elon Musk's help).

While the Dogecoin community is not closely connected by technology or governance, holders have built close social bonds through shared jokes and outsider status. Its strength lies not in what it builds, but in its continued positivity, sense of absurdity, and staying power.

Avalanche (29 / 40): "Finding the Red Triangle of Narrative"

The Avalanche community is pragmatic and builder-oriented, and is closely connected based on a shared belief in its technology (fast consensus, customizable subnets). Although not strongly ideological, they have demonstrated sustained developer activity and healthy ecosystem participation, launching many subnets and maintaining stable trading activity.

While it has not yet experienced a severe test of resilience, the Avalanche community has quietly persevered through the market downturn without losing core contributors, showing steady perseverance. Community members are socially connected, but with a slightly top-down management style, maintaining cohesion between developers and validators, but grassroots participation needs to be strengthened.

BNB Chain (28 / 40): “Changpeng Zhao’s Clone Factory”

The BNB Chain community has built a large but loosely connected ecosystem by leveraging the loyalty of a large number of retail investors to Binance (or Changpeng Zhao). Beliefs revolve around trust in Binance’s mature products rather than ideological persistence. Actions are manifested in high trading volumes, but with a heavy reliance on cloned decentralized applications (dapps) and speculation in pursuit of yield. Despite its amazing resilience in the face of hacker attacks and regulatory pressure, the community is more focused on practicality than purity.

However, widespread user adoption is accompanied by weak social ties; most cohesion comes from Binance’s corporate umbrella rather than an organically grown culture. BNB Chain has succeeded on scale and convenience, and its community lacks deeper ideological unity or grassroots cohesion.

Cosmos (28 / 40): “Clash of Blockchains: IBC”

Cosmos is the “internet of blockchains” in crypto, driven by powerful ideas around sovereignty and interoperability. The Cosmos community remains a prolific gathering place for application chain developers and passionate builders. Despite showing resilience in dealing with many major challenges (including the Terra collapse, heated token economics debates, and Jae Kwon’s controversial AtomOne fork), Cosmos is facing increasing internal fragmentation. The team and validators have split into competing factions. Ultimately, Cosmos’ core strength remains its decentralized builder culture, but the current split portends a severe test for community coordination and unity in the future.

Ton (27 / 40): “Telegram’s zombie chain”

The TON community has risen from the ashes of Telegram’s abandoned blockchain and is kept alive by early loyal supporters. With Telegram re-embracing TON and deeply integrating it, community belief in the mission to enable mass crypto adoption through Telegram’s 95 million users is high. While recent hackathons and foundation-driven initiatives have boosted developer activity, grassroots action is still slow to grow.

TON’s resilience in dealing with legal woes is commendable, but overall community density remains medium; strong within a core group associated with Telegram, but lacking broader, decentralized participation.

Tron (26 / 40): “Justin Sun’s Stablecoin Casino”

The Tron community is large but utilitarian, focusing on tangible network benefits: fast, cheap transactions, and real-world use cases such as stablecoin transfers and gambling-based decentralized applications. Despite the controversy surrounding Justin Sun, the community remains resilient and has shown steady growth with significant daily transaction volume.

Developer creativity is limited, and most activity is driven by the Tron Foundation and is mostly simple DeFi clones. On a social level, TRON’s massive user base is fragmented and lacks strong bonds between its members, making it more of a silent giant in the field of blockchain utility than a cohesive cultural force.

Stacks (25 / 40): “The ignored little brother of the Bitcoin community”

The Stacks community bridges the gap between Bitcoin’s maximalism and smart contract innovation, always believing that Bitcoin can go beyond digital gold. Despite their small size and some isolation from the wider Bitcoin community, their dedication to mission-driven development has forged a certain resilience. However, limited growth or visibility in the wider crypto space has made the Stacks community a tight-knit but niche community.

Hyperliquid (24 / 40): “Jeff’s on-chain casino cult”

Hyperliquid is a newcomer to our list. The Hyperliquid community is centered around a compelling idea, “Binance on Chain,” uniting traders under a niche but passionate mission to pursue high-performance decentralized trading. Driven by community-centric token economics (70% of tokens allocated to users, with proceeds redistributed), early adopters have shown strong, almost fanatical conviction. However, activity is primarily focused on trading rather than broad development or governance.

Resilience is promising but untested; Hyperliquid has not faced significant adversity or regulatory scrutiny. Community ties are tight within a core group of traders, but weak outside of this group. Overall, Hyperliquid's focused user base has the potential to become a niche powerhouse.

Aptos (23 / 40): "One K-pop hit doesn't make a thriving chain"

Aptos launched with huge hype and venture capital backing, but the shine has faded. Early conviction was largely speculatively driven, with many joining for the airdrop rather than genuine buy-in. By 2025, the community is more grounded, with real builders, active regional groups, and a growing ecosystem in DeFi, NFTs, and real-world assets (RWAs). Still, the recent departures of co-founder Mo Shaikh and ecosystem head Neil have exposed cracks in the team. Developer growth is strong, but much activity is still driven from the top down. Resilience has been tested through market downturns and internal changes without a major collapse. Aptos has the infrastructure, traction, and global reach, but still lacks cultural "glue."

Movement (16 / 40): "The Move chain that no one cares about"

Movement is an ambitious but nascent Layer 1 ecosystem that aims to build a modular Move language Rollup network based on Ethereum. Its early community is mostly driven by curiosity and speculative interest, and has not yet formed deep conviction or widespread recognition.

On-chain activity has been extremely limited to date, mostly developer experimentation and staking, with real ecosystem traction still to come. A swift, transparent response to an early liquidity crisis hints at potential resilience, but greater tests lie ahead. Lacking a distinct culture or close personal connections, the Movement community is currently a concept that has yet to prove itself through adoption and sustained growth.

EOS (8 / 40): The $4 billion ghost chain that self-destructed

EOS raised $4.1 billion in 2018, promising to change the world. But it broke its promises. Overhyped and underdelivered, developers churned, users left, and it faded from view. The original community fell apart, and so did faith in EOS as a platform. Today, a small group of die-hard fans run the EOS Network Foundation (ENF), attempting to save the project through upgrades and rebranding. Their perseverance is admirable, but they are rebuilding on the ashes. Developer activity is minimal, users are few and far between, and even Tether has stopped minting USDT on EOS.

EOS isn’t dead yet, but it’s certainly dying. The EOS story is a cautionary tale: even billions can’t buy a lasting community without sustained conviction, action, and cultural resilience.

Conclusion

It’s clear from this experiment that early-stage communities tend to score lower on the BARD model, especially in terms of action and resilience. This is normal: new projects are often built from the top down, have fewer bottom-up contributors, and haven’t experienced adversity yet. So it’s probably premature to dismiss their potential just because they haven’t had a chance to prove themselves.

At the same time, once a community has withstood a real stress test or multiple market cycles, conviction and density typically deepen. Grassroots movements, meme culture, and strong social networks rarely happen overnight. With this in mind, the BARD model could be improved by taking a “stage-aware” approach, giving different weights to newly launched chains on certain dimensions (such as resilience), and distinguishing between top-down construction and true bottom-up participation in terms of action scores.

Another dimension is cross-project synergies. In ecosystems like Cosmos or Polkadot, communities span multiple interconnected networks; this can have a significant impact on density (and sometimes resilience), forming a meta-community that might be overlooked if each chain is viewed in isolation.

Finally, the BARD model could incorporate more qualitative measures, such as developer tooling, offline meetups, or user-generated initiatives, to ensure that the noise brought on by hype does not inflate the score.

In summary, the value of the BARD model lies in asking more pointed questions about what truly drives the enduring development of communities. Even in a market filled with short-term attention spans, hype cycles, and fierce competition, some ecosystems continue to demonstrate enduring conviction, true construction, and strong social networks. Identifying and measuring these rare qualities may be the best way to preserve the community spirit that originally drove cryptocurrency.