By far, the innovation with the most impact in the Web3 world this year is the sidechain. The highest-volume blockchain providers in the world — Binance, Polygon, Ankr and Avalanche — have all recently released sidechain functionality. They are investing hundreds of millions into these new implementations — and with good reason.

Sidechains are the most likely multichain solution to crypto’s scalability problem. Multiple projects have failed or stalled once they hit a certain level of traffic. Ethereum gas fees are notoriously expensive, while Solana is continually congested to the point where it needs to be turned off. Needless to say, Web3 cannot grow unless transactions are fast, low-cost and secure.

Layer-2 (L2) solutions did not solve the problem despite much expectation and implementation. Sidechains are different and could prove to be the best answer as crypto enters mainstream adoption.

A sidechain goes by many different names from various providers. Ankr calls them App Chains; Avalanche calls them a SubNet; Polygon refers to them as a SuperNet. You might also hear the terms parachains, nested blockchains, or application-specific blockchains, which Binance refers to as application sidechains. Like all things in the software development world, there are different features and implementations. For instance, some sidechains might be equal and interdependent, others in a parent-child relationship where the child takes attributes from the parent.

Related: What are parachains: A guide to Polkadot & Kusama parachains

However, sidechains offer increased scalability because developers can launch a new blockchain or sidechain to cater to a specific function. For instance, Avalanche has dedicated chains (X-Chain, C-Chain,