As we look back at 2024, it’s undeniable that the crypto industry saw tremendous growth, particularly due to rising coin prices. However, this wasn’t mirrored by an equivalent increase in on-chain users across most relevant chains, according to a report by blockchain growth platform Flipside. In fact, while some networks like Base, a layer-2 network launched by Coinbase, experienced exponential growth in user count, others like Bitcoin and some Ethereum-based layer-2 chains struggled to maintain their growth or even attract new users throughout the year.
Surprisingly, it was actually Base that took the lead in terms of acquiring new users, with its monthly acquired users skyrocketing by 56 times this year despite starting slowly in January. By October 2024, the number of newly acquired users had reached a record high of 19.4 million – an impressive feat considering that Base only contributed 13.7 million of those users, less than half of the total.
But it wasn’t just about acquiring new users; Base also managed to attract a significant number of super users who executed over 100 decentralized finance (DeFi) transactions per month. This number stood at 15.1 million, a whopping 38.4% higher than the second-highest contributing chain, Ethereum, which saw 10.7 million super users.
While Ethereum didn’t quite match Base’s user growth, it did see impressive gains in its own right. The second-largest crypto network averaged 1.56 million acquired users per month – significantly higher than its layer-2 networks Arbitrum and Optimism – and had a staggering 10.9 million DeFi-related super users, nearly six times more than Arbitrum and Optimism combined.
Interestingly, the growing institutional acceptance of cryptocurrencies and notable developments like Grayscale listing several new cryptocurrencies as “assets under consideration” are thought to have played a role in driving this growth across some chains. However, things weren’t quite so rosy for Bitcoin users.
Despite bitcoin’s historic surge above the $100,000 level and the launch of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the United States, Bitcoin’s acquired users only grew by 935,900 monthly – a far cry from the growth seen on other chains. In fact, Bitcoin’s acquired users actually dropped by 28.5% during the post-U.S.
election rally in November. This suggests that there may have been more speculative activity among existing Bitcoin users rather than significant new user onboarding during this time period. Overall, while there were clear winners when it came to user growth within the crypto industry in 2024, it remains crucial for all networks to focus on offering both quantity and quality on-chain activity if they hope to attract users and turn them into high-value contributors moving forward.
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