2024 is a significant turning point for Web3 user growth, with the number of new users on major public chains reaching an all-time high. This article, based on Flipside data, explores the trends in on-chain user growth and reveals how to achieve sustainable ecosystem participation amidst short-term fads. The content is sourced from the Flipside report and organized and translated by Deep Tide TechFlow. (Background: Web3 Report: Emerging Markets Accelerate Cryptocurrency Rise, Meme Coins Ignite Global Investment Frenzy) (Context: 2024 Global Cryptocurrency Developer Report: Total number grows at an annual average of 39%, with Asia surpassing North America for the highest share) 1. Introduction: Trends in On-Chain Users Toward 2025 2024 is a pivotal year for Web3 user growth, with both new users and super users on major public chains reaching historic highs. Public chains like Base have redefined what exponential growth means, while Ethereum and its L2 solutions showcase how a deeply rooted ecosystem can adapt to evolving user demands. However, a deeper analysis of the data reveals that not all growth carries the same value—this emphasizes the importance of assessing on-chain activity not just by quantity, but also by quality. To this end, this report, based on Flipside's real-time data on on-chain cryptocurrency users in 2024, evaluates this year's cryptocurrency activity through more actionable multivariable indicators, providing a new way to assess the health of on-chain users in 2025. Summary Behind the news of user growth lies a deeper challenge: how to build an ecosystem that creates meaningful and lasting participation, rather than just fleeting speculation. In short, most blockchains are still in the early stages of converting ordinary users into high-value contributors. User Acquisition: Base: In October 2024, it set a record with 19.4 million new users, contributing 13.7 million users—almost eight times that of the second-ranked Polygon. BTC: Despite BTC reaching an all-time high of over $100,000, the monthly average of new Bitcoin users increased only by 935,900, indicating widespread speculative activity among existing users rather than significant new user entries. ETH: The monthly average of new users reached 1.56 million, surpassing Arbitrum and Optimism, with a month-on-month user growth rate of 33.4% in March. Notably, Arbitrum recorded a remarkable peak of 3.3 million new users in May. Super User Situation: Base: Attracted 15.1 million wallets that executed over 100 DeFi transactions, 38.4% more than Ethereum's 10.7 million super users. ETH: The number of 10.9 million DeFi-related super users exceeded the combined total of Arbitrum and Optimism (6.2 million and 1.8 million, respectively), highlighting Ethereum's advantages in liquidity and convenience. Polygon: Added 1.5 million super users in 2024 and recorded 867.7 million super user transactions this year, showcasing its success in areas beyond DeFi applications. DEX Usage: Uniswap: Expanded its dominance on major public chains, capturing 91.3% of new user DEX activity on Base, and increased its market share on Ethereum by 27.72% compared to 2023. Despite Uniswap's growth, Trader Joe maintains its leading position on Avalanche with a market share of 61.1%, up 6.1% from 2023. Unlike 2023, the top three DEX rankings for user acquisition and super users remain consistent across all observed public chains in 2024. 2. New User Acquisition The number of new users reached a monthly peak of 19.4 million in October 2024. This year, on-chain user growth was led by Base, which contributed 13.7 million new users—almost eight times that of the second-ranked Polygon. Overall, it has been an impressive year for the entire on-chain user growth industry. User acquisition numbers have maintained a continuous upward trend throughout 2024, with only a slight pullback in August. Note: The definition of "user acquisition" is a user who has conducted at least two transactions on a particular chain, with the second transaction occurring in 2024. This continuous growth may be influenced by increased institutional acceptance of cryptocurrencies, as evidenced by a series of BTC and ETH ETFs announced earlier this year. Other exciting developments in the first half of 2024 may have also fueled this optimism, such as Grayscale listing multiple new cryptocurrencies as "assets under consideration," and the U.S. Federal Reserve lowering interest rates by 50 basis points during the September 2024 Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting—marking the first rate cut in four years. The Remarkable Growth of Base Base started slowly in 2024 but saw its monthly new user numbers soar 56-fold since January. In January, Base had only 244,700 new users, but experienced steady and significant growth throughout the year. By November, the chain's monthly new user count had increased 56 times compared to January, averaging 4.7 million new users per month during 2024. The chain's performance greatly benefited from Coinbase's large user base, which collectively manages about $130 billion in assets. Popular DeFi protocols like Aerodrome may have also attracted users from other EVM chains, while Base successfully drove user interest through popular areas such as meme coin trading and on-chain AI (like new initiatives such as Based Agents). Bitcoin Performance Despite BTC reaching an all-time high, it has not attracted a large number of new users this year. New Bitcoin user acquisition remained relatively stable in 2024, even as the value of BTC appreciated significantly. Overall, the monthly average growth of new Bitcoin users this year was 935,900, ranking third from the bottom among the seven traditional public chains observed in this report. This indicates that the appreciation in Bitcoin's price is mainly driven by the enthusiasm and speculative activity of its existing user base, while the price increase of BTC has varied effects on attracting new users. In March 2024, the first major price surge of BTC coincided with a month-on-month increase in user acquisition of 19.2%, but in November—during the ongoing price increase when BTC reached the long-awaited $100,000 milestone—user acquisition actually declined by 28.5%. Ethereum and L2 Performance Overall, Ethereum's user acquisition surpasses its traditional L2s, but Arbitrum also...

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