Data source: Footprint Analytics public chain research data dashboard
2024 marks a significant watershed for the public chain industry, with the industry's focus shifting from technical competition to actual application deployment. In this year, the public chain market capitalization grew by 105.3% to $2.8 trillion, Bitcoin's price surpassed $100,000, and institutional-level adoption was achieved through ETFs, Ethereum Layer 2 networks expanded to over 200 chains, and Bitcoin Layer 2 TVL grew by 1,277.6%, all demonstrating the industry's transition from technical experiments to practical real-world applications. The public chain industry is undergoing a gradual shift from being driven by technology to being driven by application demand.
Note: Unless otherwise stated, all data in this report is as of December 20, 2024.
1. Market dynamics: Growth and transformation
The public chain industry achieved unprecedented growth in 2024, with several key indicators showing significant expansion.
The total market capitalization of public chains grew by 105.3% to reach $2.8 trillion. Bitcoin's dominance rose to 69.8%, while Ethereum's share fell from 20.4% to 15.2%. The shares of BNB Chain and Solana stabilized at 3.5% and 3.3%, respectively, with other platforms accounting for 8.1%.
The DeFi sector also exhibited strong growth momentum in 2024, with the total value locked (TVL) reaching $102.8 billion by year-end, a year-on-year increase of 88.6%. Among the top 10 public chains by TVL, Bitcoin and TON showed the most significant increases, both exceeding 2,000%. Aptos, Sui, and Solana also performed well, with respective growths of 754.4%, 677.1%, and 321.3%. However, Tron and Avalanche experienced declines in TVL.
The Ethereum Layer 2 ecosystem experienced significant centralization trends in 2024. Arbitrum maintained its lead 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 (22.5% share), followed by Optimism in third place with $4.0 billion TVL (15.8%). These three platforms collectively accounted for 79.1% of Ethereum L2 DeFi TVL, while previous competitors like Blast, zkSync, and Starknet saw their market shares decline.
Meanwhile, the ecosystem scale continues to expand, with currently 50 Rollups and 70 Validium & Optimium running on the mainnet, plus about 90 upcoming chains, bringing the total number of Ethereum L2s to over 200.
The Bitcoin Layer 2 and sidechain ecosystem experienced explosive growth, with total value locked reaching $2.6 billion, a substantial increase of 1,277.6% compared to 2023. Core leads with $790 million TVL (30.3% market share), followed by Bitlayer ($500 million, 19.4% share) and BSquared ($330 million, 12.7% share). This growth is not only reflected in TVL but also saw the number of active chains more than double over the year, with nearly 20 chains currently.
2. Competitive landscape: Leaders and challengers
In 2024, the competitive landscape of public blockchain ecosystems underwent significant changes, mainly characterized by the strengthening dominance of Bitcoin, the resurgence of Solana, and the rise of emerging challengers.
1) Bitcoin: From store of value to financial infrastructure
Bitcoin achieved remarkable growth in 2024, with a price increase of 129.2% and market capitalization 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. Besides surpassing the $100,000 price milestone, there were two key developments in the Bitcoin ecosystem:
Institutional adoption has risen: The successful issuance of spot ETFs in January has fundamentally changed the institutional access landscape, with BlackRock's product rapidly reaching $20 billion. Bitcoin surpassed silver and Saudi Aramco to become the seventh largest asset globally, marking a shift from speculative asset to recognized store of value.
BTCfi rises: 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 reflect an increasingly mature ecosystem. Cross-chain functionality has made progress through integration with the BOB network and Optimism, as well as the BEVM's 'super Bitcoin' framework, although standardization still faces challenges.
2) Ethereum: Layer 2 drives ecosystem evolution
2024 is a key year for Ethereum's transformation into a Layer 2-centric ecosystem. Despite a 55.8% increase in price to $3,744, Ethereum faces complex challenges in repositioning its role and maintaining relevance amidst the growth of Layer 2 adoption. The successful issuance of spot ETFs in July gained a degree of institutional recognition, but Ethereum's price performance lagged significantly behind Bitcoin.
Ethereum's mainnet achieved significant transformation through the 'Cancun Upgrade', successfully reducing Layer 2 transaction costs and enhancing scalability. However, the migration of activities to Layer 2 has led to a decline in Ethereum's own fee revenue, prompting discussions about Ethereum's long-term sustainability. The Ethereum Foundation has responded with several initiatives, including implementing Proto-Danksharding (EIP-4844), developing cross-L2 communication standards, and strengthening security requirements for Layer 2 solutions.
The Layer 2 ecosystem demonstrated significant growth and integration throughout the year. Noteworthy newcomers enriched the ecosystem, including World Chain, Uniswap's Unichain, and Sony's Soneium. This evolution highlights Ethereum's transition from a pure execution layer to a diversified Layer 2 ecosystem as a provider of settlement and security. Although there are still questions about revenue models and competitive dynamics, Ethereum's continued development in developer activity and innovative scaling solutions showcases its adaptability.
3) Solana: The third giant
2024 witnessed a strong comeback for Solana, with a price increase of 70.8% and market capitalization growth of 90.9%, with the coin price surpassing $260 in November, setting a new all-time high. This revival began with the Jupiter airdrop in January, leading to unprecedented activity within the Solana ecosystem. Solana established itself as a retail trading hub, fostering a vibrant meme and DeFi community. In addition to meme culture, Solana made progress in several areas: restaking protocols, modular Layer 2 solutions, and stablecoin innovations. The ecosystem further extended its influence through the expansion of SVM chains such as Eclipse, Soon, Atlas, and Sonic.
3. The rise of emerging forces: TON, Sui, and Base
1) TON: Social integration drives platform growth
The Open Network (TON) demonstrated significant growth in 2024, with Toncoin's price rising by 149.6% and market capitalization growing by 84.3%. TON's success primarily stems from its deep integration with Telegram, effectively bridging traditional social networks and blockchain technology. The platform simplifies cryptocurrency experiences through Telegram wallet functions and blockchain integration, providing millions of users with easy access to gaming, memes, and DeFi applications, establishing a model for large-scale adoption.
2) Sui: From Move language pioneer to ecosystem leader
Sui performed remarkably, with its token price soaring by 461.6% and market capitalization growing by 1,363.8%. This success reflects market confidence in Move language technology and ecosystem development. Sui focuses on DeFi and gaming sectors, including Telegram game integration and the innovative SuiPlay0X1 game console development, showcasing its comprehensive layout for ecosystem growth. The platform's emphasis on user experience and protocol development has created positive network effects, attracting participation from both developers and users.
3) Base: Institutional background drives rapid growth
Base's significant growth is driven by several key factors. Coinbase significantly lowered the entry barriers for mainstream users through its user-friendly smart wallet. The platform gained substantial momentum from successful social applications such as friend.tech and Clanker, while the popularity of memecoins further boosted activity on the Base chain. The implementation of the 'Cancun Upgrade' significantly reduced transaction fees, continually enhancing Base's attractiveness to developers and users.
4. Major trends in the public chain industry in 2024
1) New chains emerging continuously
In 2024, project teams launched their own public chains. DeFi giant Uniswap announced Unichain; the gaming platform Treasure DAO developed a ZK-based Layer 2; the NFT space saw Pudgy Penguins launch Abstract; and the Web3 platform Galxe launched Gravity. Moreover, the entry of innovative new chains like Monad, Berachain, and HyperLiquid reflects the public chain industry's shift towards specialized blockchain infrastructure.
2) Institutional adoption: From exploration to strategic integration
A. Shift in institutional participation methods
2024 marks a decisive shift in institutional adoption from experimental blockchain initiatives to strategic implementation. Financial institutions are leading this transition, with BlackRock's Bitcoin ETF rapidly reaching $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 Circle launching native USDC on Sui and Visa integrating Solana for settlements.
B. Shift in institutional investment paradigms
The public chain sector showed strong recovery in 2024, with 174 financing events raising a total of $1.7 billion, a 137.1% increase from last year. Notably, institutional investment strategies shifted from pure infrastructure to application-oriented innovation. Early-stage investment events accounted for 21.4% of total financing events, while Series A and B rounds made up 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 substantial 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.
3) From technical competition to application innovation
The public chain industry experienced a fundamental shift in 2024, transitioning from technology-driven to application-driven strategies. This shift challenges the previously dominant industry mindset of 'build first, users will come'. While technological capabilities have significantly improved, the increased network capacity has not directly translated into corresponding user growth. For instance, despite hardware limitations, Ethereum's base layer has a higher 'users processed per second' (UOPS) than most Layer 2s, highlighting the complex relationship between technological capabilities and actual adoption.
This reality has prompted a strategic shift within ecosystems. Blockchain platforms are increasingly focused on identifying specific user needs and building targeted solutions rather than merely pursuing pure technological advancement. This 'find the user and then build' approach is reflected in several successful initiatives. Social finance integration 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. Simplifying user experience through account abstraction and familiar authentication methods has significantly lowered the entry barriers for mainstream users.
The evolution of meme culture within the blockchain space further illustrates this shift towards application-oriented development. Initially pure speculative activities have evolved into effective user acquisition channels, especially on platforms like Solana and Base. These networks successfully leveraged meme-related initiatives to drive ecosystem growth while establishing 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 purely advancing technological capabilities.
5. Outlook for 2025
As the blockchain industry transitions from technological experimentation to practical implementation, 2025 is expected to be a crucial year of transformation.
1) Regulatory clarity
The regulatory environment shows significant hopes for improvement, especially in the United States. A clearer regulatory framework is expected to benefit the entire industry, particularly with progress in stablecoin legislation. This regulatory clarity will promote institutional blockchain adoption through an increase in regulated products and services, while also fostering competition among jurisdictions in crypto regulation.
2) Specialization of public chains
The specialization of public chains has become a dominant trend, shifting from generic Layer 1 competition to purpose-driven architectures. With cross-chain infrastructure support, application-specific chains and optimized execution environments will see significant development. The 'Rollup as a Service' (RaaS) sector is expected to expand, providing more convenient customized blockchain solutions for enterprises and project parties.
3) Technological innovation and AI integration
In 2025, technological innovation will shift from pure breakthroughs to application-oriented infrastructure upgrades. The implementation of Proto-Danksharding will double Blob capacity, propelling Layer 2 scalability into a new phase; the development of chain abstraction technology will bring a more intuitive user experience; and the standardization of cross-chain communication will simplify interoperability.
At the infrastructure level, we expect to see more developments driven by actual demand. Modular blockchain technology stacks will mature, providing specialized solutions for data availability, settlement, and execution layers. Notably, the deep integration of AI technology with blockchain will reshape infrastructure forms: from improving user interfaces to implementing complex on-chain AI agents, from decentralized model training to supporting social finance integration, these innovations will support more complex application scenarios while maintaining security and decentralization, laying a solid foundation for the next round of blockchain innovation.
6. Conclusion
The past year proved that sustainable growth relies not only on technological capabilities but also on meaningful user adoption and practical utility. With improved regulatory clarity, advancements in technical infrastructure, and increased institutional participation, the foundation for meaningful large-scale adoption of blockchain technology is in place. The focus has shifted from 'what's technically possible' to 'what's practically valuable', and this shift will define the next phase of growth for the industry in 2025.
This content is intended for industry research and communication purposes only and does not constitute any investment advice. The market is risky, and investments should be made cautiously.
