2024 Annual Report on the Public Blockchain Industry: From Infrastructure Competition to Application Implementation

2024 marks a significant turning point for the public chain industry, shifting the focus from technological competition to practical application. In this year, the market value of public chains grew by 105.3% to reach $2.8 trillion, with the price of Bitcoin surpassing the $100,000 mark and achieving institutional adoption through ETFs. The Ethereum Layer 2 network expanded to over 200 chains, and Bitcoin Layer 2 TVL increased by 1,277.6%. These developments indicate a transition of the industry from technological experimentation to real-world applications. The public chain industry is undergoing a process of gradually shifting from being primarily technology-driven to being primarily driven by application demands.

Market Dynamics: Growth and Transformation

In 2024, the public blockchain industry achieved unprecedented growth, with multiple key indicators showing significant expansion.

The total market value of public chains increased by 105.3% to reach $2.8 trillion. Bitcoin's dominance rose to 69.8%, while Ethereum's share dropped from 20.4% to 15.2%. The shares of a certain trading platform chain and Solana remained stable at 3.5% and 3.3%, with other platforms accounting for 8.1%.

The DeFi sector also demonstrated strong growth momentum in 2024, with the total locked value ( TVL) reaching $10.28 billion by the end of the year, a year-on-year increase of 88.6%. Among the top 10 public chains by TVL, Bitcoin and TON saw the most significant increases, both exceeding 2,000%. Aptos, Sui, and Solana also performed well, growing by 754.4%, 677.1%, and 321.3%, respectively. However, the TVL of Tron and Avalanche both experienced a decline.

The Ethereum Layer 2 ecosystem experienced significant centralization in 2024. Arbitrum maintained its leading position with a TVL of $10.6 billion and a market share of 41.1%, down from 50.8% in 2023. Base emerged as the dark horse of the year, jumping to second place with a TVL of $5.8 billion and a 22.5% share, while Optimism ranked third with a TVL of $4 billion and a 15.8% share. These three platforms together accounted for 79.1% of the Ethereum L2 DeFi TVL, while previous competitors such as Blast, zkSync, and Starknet saw declines in their market shares.

Meanwhile, the ecosystem continues to expand in scale, with 50 Rollups and 70 Validiums & Optimiums currently running on the mainnet, along with about 90 chains set to launch, bringing the total number of Ethereum L2s to over 200.

The Bitcoin Layer 2 and sidechain ecosystem has experienced explosive growth, with a total locked value (TVL) reaching $2.6 billion, a significant increase of 1,277.6% compared to 2023. Core leads the market with a TVL of $790 million, holding a 30.3% market share, followed by Bitlayer with $150 million and a 19.4% share, and BSquared with $133 million, accounting for 12.7% of the market. This growth is not only reflected in the TVL but also in the number of active chains, which has more than doubled over the year, now totaling nearly 20 chains.

Competitive Landscape: Leaders and Challengers

In 2024, the competitive landscape of the public chain ecosystem has undergone significant changes, mainly characterized by the strengthening of Bitcoin's dominance, the recovery of Solana, and the rise of emerging challengers.

( Bitcoin: From Store of Value to Financial Infrastructure

Bitcoin achieved remarkable growth in 2024, with a price increase of 129.2% and a market cap growth of 131.7%. This growth was driven by institutional adoption of spot ETFs, the halving event in April, and positive sentiment following the U.S. elections. In addition to breaking the $100,000 price milestone, there were two key developments in the Bitcoin ecosystem:

Institutional adoption has been enhanced: The successful issuance of spot ETFs in January has completely changed the landscape for institutional access, with the product scale of a certain asset management company rapidly reaching $20 billion. Bitcoin has surpassed silver and Saudi Aramco, becoming the seventh largest asset in the world, marking a transition from a speculative asset to a recognized store of value.

The Rise of BTCfi: The Bitcoin ecosystem has achieved expansion beyond price growth through innovative financial products. Babylon's Bitcoin staking project, Solv Protocol's cross-chain solutions, and Core's Fusion upgrade all showcase an increasingly mature ecosystem. Cross-chain capabilities have made progress through the integration of the BOB network with Optimism and the "Super Bitcoin" framework of BEVM, although standardization still faces challenges.

) Ethereum: Layer 2 Drives Ecosystem Evolution

2024 is a crucial year for Ethereum's transformation into a Layer 2-centric ecosystem. Despite a price increase of 55.8% to $3,744, Ethereum faces complex challenges in repositioning its role and maintaining relevance amid the backdrop of growing Layer 2 adoption. The successful launch of spot ETFs in July gained some degree of institutional recognition, but Ethereum's price performance has significantly lagged behind that of Bitcoin.

The Ethereum mainnet has achieved significant transformation through the "Cancun Upgrade," successfully reducing Layer 2 transaction costs and improving scalability. However, the migration of activities to Layer 2 has led to a decline in Ethereum's own fee revenue, sparking discussions about the long-term sustainability of Ethereum. The Ethereum Foundation has responded with several measures, including the implementation of Proto-Danksharding(EIP-4844), developing cross-L2 communication standards, and strengthening security requirements for Layer 2 solutions.

The Layer 2 ecosystem has shown significant growth and integration throughout the year. Noteworthy new entrants have enriched the ecosystem, including World Chain, Unichain from a certain DEX, and Sony's Soneium. This evolution highlights Ethereum's shift from a pure execution layer to a diversified provider of settlement and security within the Layer 2 ecosystem. Although questions remain regarding revenue models and competitive dynamics, Ethereum's continued development in developer activity and innovative scaling solutions demonstrates its adaptability.

( Solana: The Third Giant

2024 witnessed a strong comeback for Solana, with a price increase of 70.8% and a market cap growth of 90.9%. In November, the coin price broke through $260, setting a new historical high. This revival began with the Jupiter airdrop in January, and the Solana ecosystem has been extraordinarily active. Solana has established itself as a hub for retail trading and fostered a vibrant meme and DeFi community. Beyond meme culture, Solana has made progress in multiple areas: re-staking protocols, modular Layer 2 solutions, and stablecoin innovations. The ecosystem has further extended its influence through the expansion of SVM chains such as Eclipse, Soon, Atlas, and Sonic.

) The Rise of Emerging Forces: TON, Sui, and Base

TON: Social integration drives platform growth

The Open Network (TON) showed significant growth in 2024, with Toncoin price increasing by 149.6% and market capitalization rising by 84.3%. The success of TON is mainly attributed to its deep integration with Telegram, effectively bridging the gap between traditional social networks and blockchain technology. The platform simplifies the crypto experience through Telegram wallet features and blockchain integration, providing millions of users with easy access to gaming, meme, and DeFi applications, establishing a model for large-scale adoption.

Sui: From Move Language Pioneer to Ecosystem Leader

Sui has performed remarkably, with the token price soaring by 461.6% and a market capitalization increase of 1,363.8%. This success reflects the market's confidence in the development of Move language technology and ecosystem. Sui focuses on the DeFi and gaming sectors, including the integration of Telegram games and the innovative development of the SuiPlay0X1 gaming console, showcasing its comprehensive layout for ecosystem growth. The platform's emphasis on user experience and protocol development has created positive network effects, attracting joint participation from developers and users.

Base: Institutional background drives rapid growth

The significant growth of Base is driven by several key factors. A certain trading platform has significantly lowered the entry barrier for mainstream users through its user-friendly smart wallet. The platform has gained substantial momentum from successful social applications like friend.tech and Clanker, while the popularity of memecoins has further boosted activity on the Base chain. The implementation of the "Cancun upgrade" has significantly reduced transaction fees, continuously enhancing Base's appeal to developers and users.

Major Trends in the Public Chain Industry in 2024

New blockchain layers emerge endlessly

In 2024, project teams are launching their own public chains one after another. The DeFi giant DEX announced Unichain; the gaming platform Treasure DAO developed a ZK-based Layer 2; in the NFT space, Pudgy Penguins launched Abstract; and the Web3 platform Galxe introduced Gravity. Moreover, the emergence of innovative new chains like Monad, Berachain, and HyperLiquid reflects the public chain industry's shift towards specialized blockchain infrastructure.

Institutional Adoption: From Exploration to Strategic Integration

Change in Institutional Participation Methods

2024 marks a decisive shift for institutions from experimental blockchain initiatives to strategic implementations. Financial institutions are leading this transformation, with a certain asset management company's Bitcoin ETF rapidly reaching a scale of $20 billion, and PayPal expanding PYUSD to Solana. Tech giants are demonstrating deeper involvement through innovative approaches: Sony launched the Soneium chain for entertainment applications, while Google Cloud expanded its Web3 portal services. Infrastructure development is particularly noteworthy, with a certain stablecoin issuer launching native USDC on Sui, and Visa integrating Solana for settlement.

The paradigm shift of institutional investment

The public chain sector is showing a strong recovery in 2024, with 174 financing events raising a total of $1.7 billion, an increase of 137.1% compared to last year. Notably, institutional investment strategies have shifted from purely infrastructure-focused to application-oriented innovation. Early-stage investment events accounted for 21.4% of the total financing events, while Series A and B rounds accounted for 31.8%, reflecting the increasing maturity of the ecosystem.

The investment philosophy of venture capital has undergone a significant evolution, prioritizing user-facing applications over traditional infrastructure development. This is reflected in the large investments in consumer-facing projects: Monad raised $225 million to optimize user experience, while Celestia and Berachain each secured $100 million for application-oriented infrastructure.

From technical competition to application innovation

The public chain industry experienced a fundamental shift in 2024, moving from a technology-driven approach to an application-driven strategy. This shift challenges the previous industry mindset of "build first, users will naturally come." Despite significant improvements in technical capabilities, the increased network capacity did not directly translate into corresponding user growth. For example, although "hardware" is limited, the Ethereum base layer has a "users processed per second" that exceeds most Layer 2s, highlighting the complex relationship between technical capability and actual adoption.

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This reality prompts the ecosystem to make a strategic shift. Blockchain platforms are increasingly focusing on identifying specific user needs and building targeted solutions, rather than pursuing pure technological advancement. This "find users and then build" approach is reflected in several successful initiatives. The integration of social finance has become a particularly effective strategy, with TON's Telegram integration and Base's friend.tech demonstrating how familiar social platforms can drive blockchain adoption. By simplifying the user experience through account abstraction and familiar authentication methods, the entry barrier for mainstream users has been significantly lowered.

The evolution of meme culture in the blockchain space further reflects this shift towards application-oriented development. Initially purely speculative activities have evolved into effective user acquisition channels, especially on platforms like Solana and Base. These networks have successfully leveraged meme-related initiatives to drive ecosystem growth while fostering sustainable community engagement. The success of these user-centric approaches indicates that sustainable growth in the blockchain space increasingly relies on understanding and serving user needs, rather than solely advancing technological capabilities.

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2025 Outlook

As the blockchain industry shifts from technical experimentation to practical implementation, 2025 is expected to be a significant year of transformation.

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