How to evaluate a Layer 1 blockchain in 2026 — and how Sanect scores

1. How fast is finality, and is it real?

Ask for the block time and, separately, the time until a transaction cannot be reversed. Probabilistic chains keep reorganising for minutes; BFT chains finalise when two-thirds of stake commits.

Sanect: CometBFT consensus with a 400 ms commit timeout; observed block times run around 420–435 ms, and a committed block is final. There is no "wait for confirmations". Live block time is shown on the network page.

2. Who runs the validators, and how many?

Look at the active-set size, the stake needed to join, and whether the set is permissioned. Then look at how many validators are actually bonded today, not the design target.

Sanect: a 50-seat active set ranked by stake, unlimited registrations, 1,000 SNCT minimum self-delegation, 21-day unbonding, and slashing of 5% for double-signing and 0.01% for downtime. The honest part: mainnet is three months old and the bonded set is still being recruited toward those 50 seats; the validators page shows the live count rather than the target.

3. Can existing code and wallets run on it?

A new VM means every contract, wallet and indexer must be rebuilt. EVM compatibility means Hardhat, Foundry, ethers, MetaMask and audited Solidity libraries work on day one.

Sanect: unmodified Solidity on cosmos/evm; chain ID 7628; standard JSON-RPC at rpc.sanect.com; any EVM wallet. Cosmos modules (staking, governance, distribution) are exposed to Solidity through precompiles at 0x…0800 to 0x…0806.

4. Where do the tokens go, and when do they unlock?

Read the allocation table and the unlock schedule, not the pie chart. Ask what circulates on day one and who can sell into launch.

Sanect: 1,000,000,000 SNCT at genesis across ten published buckets: 30% airdrop in four 75M phases from Day 180 with a 180-day vest each, 25% treasury, 10% community with a 20M-per-year cap, 10% LP incentives over five years, 10% team on a 48-month vest with a cliff at Day 185, 5% listings and audit, 5% validator grants, 3% foundation over 48 months, 1% advisors and KOLs, 1% discretionary. No VC allocation. Day-0 circulating supply was about 5M. Full table on tokenomics.

5. Does it have a feature nobody else has, or a faster version of the same thing?

Most new L1s compete on throughput. Ask what the chain enables that an existing chain cannot.

Sanect: a native shielded pool. Sender, receiver and amount can be hidden with a zero-knowledge proof, from the same wallet, on the same chain as public DeFi. The proving system is a Noir circuit on Barretenberg's universal SRS, so there is no per-circuit trusted-setup ceremony. What is not hidden, and what is not yet built, is listed on the privacy page.

6. How does value get in and out, and who secures the bridge?

Bridges are where chains get drained. Ask which bridge, which verification model, and whether it has been upgraded from a launch-day configuration.

Sanect: a Hyperlane bridge to Ethereum carrying SNCT and 14 ERC-20s, with a round-trip verified on mainnet. Today the interchain security module trusts a single relayer key; the roadmap item to move to a multi-validator ISM is in progress and is stated on the roadmap. Treat that as a launch-phase trust assumption.

7. What has been audited?

"Audited" should name the firm, the scope and the report. Until then the honest word is "unaudited".

Sanect: an external audit across the shielded pool contract, the circuit, and consensus and precompiles is underway and not complete. Reports will be published unredacted. A bug bounty up to 50,000 SNCT is live. The security page keeps the status current.

8. What is the track record?

Look for a testnet that ran under load, incidents that were written up, and a mainnet that has stayed up.

Sanect: testnet from March 2026 including a full reset in June that was documented publicly; mainnet genesis on 22 June 2026; the order book, bridge, DEX and name service shipped on mainnet since. Every release is listed in the changelog.

The scorecard, without the marketing

Use the same eight questions on any chain. A project that answers all of them with numbers and names its own gaps is telling you more than one that answers with adjectives.