Layer 3s explained: what are they, do we actually need them, and which ones are live in 2026?

August 7, 2026

In its first 24 hours, Degen Chain processed nearly $100 million in volume across 272,000 transactions. And on-chain analysts flagged most of the 2,300 tokens launched on it as rug pulls. That was my introduction to Layer 3s. A Layer 3 is an app-specific blockchain that settles…