Sei Trading Chain: Fastest L1 Blockchain

Traders seeking the fastest Layer 1 blockchain for high speed DeFi and decentralized exchanges often turn to Sei Trading Chain as a top contender with its parallelized execution and sub-400ms finality. This comparison evaluates Sei against 11 other leading L1 options, focusing on transaction speeds, throughput, costs, and trading specific features to help you pick the best for your needs. Real metrics like TPS, TVL, and fees guide the breakdown of each platform's strengths.

Sei stands out as the first sector specific Layer 1 blockchain optimized for decentralized exchanges, delivering 12,500 transactions per second through its Twin Turbo consensus and parallel block processing. With block finality at 300-400 milliseconds and over $600 million in TVL as of mid-2025, it handles $38 billion in cumulative perpetual trading volume across 285 million transactions. Its v2 upgrade introduced the world's first parallelized EVM, enabling Ethereum compatibility while prioritizing high frequency trades.

• Native order matching engine at L1 level cuts latency for DEXs like Yei Finance and Sailor.finance.
• Market based parallelization processes non conflicting transactions simultaneously, boosting throughput without congestion.
• Upcoming Giga upgrade targets 200,000+ TPS via Autobahn consensus for even faster scalability.
• 260% growth in tokenized real world assets, with PYUSD and USDT settlements.
• Younger network lacks Ethereum's maturity but shows rapid adoption with 7.5 million wallets.

Bridge assets via third party tools with gas on arrival to avoid fee surprises; stake SEI for governance and rewards before high leverage perps on integrated DEXs.

Solana: High Throughput Generalist with Proven Volume

Max throughput: 10,000 TPS, with average fees at $0.00025 per transaction during peak loads. Solana processes millions of daily trades across DEXs like Jupiter, backed by a $5 billion+ TVL ecosystem.

Its Proof of History consensus enables quick finality around 400ms, making it suitable for memecoins and perpetuals, though occasional outages have occurred under extreme spam.

• Deep liquidity pools reduce slippage on high volume pairs.
• Low costs support retail arbitrage bots effectively.
• Composable with Wormhole for cross chain trades.
• Network halts in past peaks highlight centralization risks.
• Faster recovery post outages than many rivals.

Sui: Object Centric Speed for Complex Trades

Each transaction on Sui costs $0.001 to $0.01, scaling with object model that hits 297,000 TPS in tests via parallel execution. Over 120 million monthly active users trade NFTs and DeFi with sub second finality.

• Narrows dependency conflicts for smoother order books.
• Mysten Labs backing ensures ongoing optimizations.
• Strong in gaming economies with real time settlements.

Start with the free developer tier for testing bots; watch for gas spikes during viral token launches.

Aptos: Move Language Power for Secure Throughput

How fast does Aptos confirm trades? Under 1 second at up to 160,000 TPS theoretically, with real world averages around 10,000 TPS and fees below $0.01. TVL exceeds $1 billion, fueled by institutional pilots.

• Block STM engine parallelizes non overlapping txs.
• Diem heritage brings audited security.
• Integrates with LayerZero for multi chain liquidity.
• Smaller DEX selection than Sei or Solana.
• Developer tools lag EVM ecosystems.

Use Aptos Bridge for Ethereum inflows; enable pipelining for high volume strategies.

TON: Telegram's Massive Scale for Social Trading

TON processes 100,000+ TPS at $0.01 fees or less, leveraging sharding for 1.5 billion user reach via Telegram mini apps. Daily transactions top 10 million, with jettons mimicking ERC-20s.

Finality hits sub second, ideal for tap to trade bots in viral games.

• Vast onboarded audience drives instant liquidity.
• Free mini app deploys lower entry barriers.
• Sharding prevents congestion during pumps.
• Less mature DeFi primitives than specialized chains.

Hyperliquid: Perp Focused L1 with Minimal Fees

Taker fee: 0.01% on perpetuals, maker rebates at -0.01%, no gas on trades. Handles $10 billion+ monthly volume with custom VM for sub-100ms latency.

• Pure focus on derivatives avoids generalist bloat.
• 2,000x leverage available for pros.
• On chain order book rivals CEXs.
• Limited to perps, no spot or NFTs.
• Centralized sequencer risks in early stages.

Fund via Hyperbridge; monitor funding rates closely for arb opportunities.

Mantel: Ultra Low Latency Order Matching

Trades execute at 0.02% average cost with 50ms latency claims, blending optimistic rollups on L1 base. TVL at $400 million supports prediction markets and perps.

Revenue sharing for builders incentivizes DEX growth.

• MEV protection via threshold encryption.
• Native USDC pools minimize friction.
• Scales to 20,000 orders/sec.

Test with small positions during low volume hours to gauge fills.

Berachain: Liquidity Mining on EVM L1

Base fees sit at $0.0001, dropping with proof of liquidity staking that rewards TVL providers up to 50% APY. Early mainnet hit $500 million TVL in weeks.

• Bera tokenomics align incentives for deep pools.
• Full EVM for easy porting.
• Honeycomb sequencer batches txs efficiently.
• Testnet risks until full audit.
• Focuses more on yield than pure speed.

Ethereum: The Secure Baseline for L1 Trading

Base layer runs 15 TPS at $0.50-$5 gas fees during congestion, but L2s like Base push effective 100+ TPS under $0.01. $100 billion+ TVL dominates DeFi.

• Unmatched security and decentralization.
• Thousands of DEXs via Uniswap forks.
• L2 rollups inherit finality.
• High costs during peaks kill HFT.
• Danksharding upgrades loom for scaling.

Route through L2s like Arbitrum for 90% fee savings on trades.

Binance Smart Chain: Budget EVM Alternative

Averages $0.10 fees at 100 TPS, with 5-second blocks for quick DeFi swaps. $5 billion TVL centers on PancakeSwap perps.

BSC's centralization enables cheap, reliable volume.

• Binance liquidity inflows boost pairs.
• Multi chain bridges aplenty.
• Slower than parallel L1s like Sei.

Avalanche: Subnet Flexibility for Custom Trading

Fees range $0.01-$0.20 across 4,500 TPS subnets, with C Chain hitting 50ms finality. $1.5 billion TVL spans Trader Joe DEXs.

• Launch dedicated subnets for private order books.
• HyperSDK boosts custom throughput.
• Strong RWA tokenization.
• Subnet management adds complexity.
• Less parallelization than Sei.

Deploy on Warp Messaging for cross subnet arb.

Polygon: zkEVM Scaling for Mass Adoption

AggLayer enables 65,000 TPS at $0.001 fees, unifying liquidity across chains. $2 billion TVL powers QuickSwap.

zk proofs ensure 100% EVM equivalence.

• Free txs on community grants.
• Upcoming AggLayer unifies 100+ chains.
• Proven at scale with 1B+ txs monthly.
• Relayer delays on zk finality.

Understanding Layer 1 Blockchains for Trading

Layer 1 blockchains form the base infrastructure where transactions settle natively, differing from L2s by handling consensus and execution directly. For trading chains like Sei, metrics include TPS for volume capacity, finality time for confirmation speed, and parallelization to process orders without queues.

• Twin Turbo on Sei assumes non conflicting txs run parallel, re executing only clashes for 12,500 TPS.
• On chain order books match buys/sells at L1, slashing DEX latency versus off chain relays.
• EVM compatibility ports Solidity contracts, vital as Sei v2 achieved first parallelized version.
• TVL measures locked assets; Sei's $600M signals trust in its trading infra.

Metrics to Compare Fastest L1 Blockchains

• Throughput (TPS): Sei's 12,500 edges Solana's 10,000; theoretical peaks like Sui's 297K matter less than sustained loads.
• Finality: Sub-400ms on Sei and Solana beats Ethereum's 12 minutes, crucial for HFT.
• Fees: Sub cent on most, but spikes hit generalists; trading specific like Hyperliquid stay flat.
• Trading Volume: Sei's $38B perpetuals dwarfs many, indicating real adoption.
• Interoperability: Sei's Cosmos to EVM shift and bridges enable cross chain liquidity pulls.

How to Choose and Use the Best Trading L1

1. Assess your volume: Pick Sei or Hyperliquid for 10,000+ TPS needs; Ethereum L2s suffice for casual trades.
2. Test fees live: Deploy a small bot on testnets, measure $0.001 vs $0.01 impacts over 1,000 txs.
3. Check DEX depth: Use Dune Analytics for pool sizes; aim for $10M+ liquidity per pair on chains like Solana or Sei.
4. Bridge smartly: Favor gas on arrival options on Sei to cover first tx fees instantly.
5. Stake for yields: Lock SEI or BERA tokens for 10-20% APY while trading.
6. Monitor upgrades: Watch Sei's Giga for 50x boosts or Polygon's AggLayer rollout.
7. Run parallel tests: Split $1K across Sei and Sui, compare fill speeds on identical perps.
8. Secure wallets: Use Ledger for hot keys on high value chains; enable 2FA on bridges.
9. Track MEV: Prioritize Sei or Mantel for built in protections against front running.
10. Scale gradually: Start with spot, add leverage on proven L1s like Hyperliquid post backtesting.