Author: Stella L (stella@footprint.network)
Data Source: Footprint Analytics public chain research dashboard.
2024 marks an important watershed moment for the public chain industry, with the industry's focus shifting from technological competition to practical application implementation. During this year, the public chain market cap grew by 105.3% to $2.8 trillion, Bitcoin's price broke through $100,000, and institutional-level adoption through ETFs occurred, while Ethereum's Layer 2 networks expanded to over 200 chains, and Bitcoin's Layer 2 TVL grew by 1,277.6%, demonstrating the industry's transition from technological experimentation to practical real-world applications. The public chain industry is undergoing a gradual transformation from being driven by technology to being driven by application demands.
Note: Unless otherwise specified, all data in this report is as of December 20, 2024.
Market dynamics: Growth and transformation.
In 2024, the public chain industry achieved unprecedented growth, with several key indicators showing significant expansion.
The total market capitalization of public chains grew by 105.3% to $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 remained stable at 3.5% and 3.3%, respectively, while other platforms accounted for 8.1%.
The DeFi sector also exhibited strong growth momentum in 2024, with total locked value (TVL) reaching $102.8 billion by year-end, an increase of 88.6% year-on-year. 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, with increases of 754.4%, 677.1%, and 321.3%, respectively. However, the TVL for Tron and Avalanche saw declines.
The Ethereum Layer 2 ecosystem experienced a significant centralization trend 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 (22.5% share), while Optimism ranked third with a TVL of $4 billion (15.8%). These three platforms collectively accounted for 79.1% of Ethereum L2 DeFi TVL, while former competitors like Blast, zkSync, and Starknet saw declines in market share.
Meanwhile, the ecosystem continues to expand in scale, with currently 50 Rollups and 70 Validium & Optimium running on the mainnet, plus about 90 chains expected to go live, bringing the total number of Ethereum L2s to over 200.
The Bitcoin Layer 2 and sidechain ecosystem experienced explosive growth, with total locked value reaching $2.6 billion, a substantial increase of 1,277.6% from 2023. Core leads with a TVL of $790 million (30.3% market share), followed by Bitlayer ($500 million, 19.4% share) and BSquared ($330 million, 12.7% share). This growth is reflected not only in TVL but also in the number of active chains, which more than doubled throughout the year, with nearly 20 existing chains.
Competitive landscape: Leaders and challengers.
In 2024, the competitive landscape of the public chain ecosystem underwent significant changes, primarily characterized by Bitcoin's strengthened dominance, Solana's recovery, and the rise of emerging challengers.
Bitcoin: From a store of value to financial infrastructure.
Bitcoin achieved remarkable growth in 2024, with a price increase of 129.2% and a market cap increase of 131.7%. This growth is driven by the institutional adoption of spot ETFs, the April halving event, and positive sentiment following the U.S. elections. In addition to breaking the $100,000 price milestone, there are two key developments in the Bitcoin ecosystem:
Institutional adoption increases: The successful launch of spot ETFs in January fundamentally altered the institutional access landscape, with BlackRock’s product quickly reaching $20 billion. Bitcoin surpassed silver and Saudi Aramco to become the world's seventh-largest asset, marking a shift from speculative asset to recognized store of value.
BTCfi rise: 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 a maturing ecosystem. Cross-chain functionality has progressed through integrations like the BOB network with Optimism and BEVM's 'Super Bitcoin' framework, although standardization still faces challenges.
Ethereum: Layer 2 drives ecosystem evolution.
2024 is a critical year for Ethereum's transformation into a Layer 2-centric ecosystem. Although the price rose by 55.8% to $3,744, Ethereum faces complex challenges in repositioning its role and maintaining relevance amid the growth of Layer 2 adoption. The successful issuance of spot ETFs in July has gained some institutional recognition, but Ethereum's price performance has significantly lagged behind Bitcoin.
The Ethereum mainnet achieved significant changes through the 'Cancun Upgrade,' successfully reducing Layer 2 transaction costs and improving scalability. However, the migration of activity to Layer 2 resulted in a decline in Ethereum's own fee revenue, prompting discussions about Ethereum's long-term sustainability. The Ethereum Foundation has responded with multiple initiatives, including the implementation of Proto-Danksharding (EIP-4844), the development of cross-L2 communication standards, and the strengthening of security requirements for Layer 2 solutions.
The Layer 2 ecosystem exhibited 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 transformation from a pure execution layer to a diversified Layer 2 ecosystem focusing on settlement and security provision. Despite uncertainties 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%, as the price broke through $260 in November, setting a new historical high. This revival began with the January Jupiter airdrop, and the Solana ecosystem has been exceptionally active. Solana has established itself as a retail trading hub, fostering a vibrant meme and DeFi community. Beyond meme culture, Solana has made progress in several areas: restaking protocols, modular Layer 2 solutions, and stablecoin innovations. The ecosystem has further extended its influence through the expansion of SVM chains like Eclipse, Soon, Atlas, and Sonic.
The rise of emerging forces: TON, Sui, and Base.
TON: Social integration drives platform growth.
The Open Network (TON) demonstrated significant growth in 2024, with the price of Toncoin rising by 149.6% and market cap growing by 84.3%. TON's success is primarily 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 functionalities and blockchain integration, providing millions of users with easy access to games, memes, and DeFi applications, establishing a model of large-scale adoption.
Sui: From Move language pioneer to ecosystem leader.
Sui performed exceptionally well, with its token price soaring by 461.6% and market cap 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 development of the innovative 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 both developers and users to participate.
Base: Institutional background drives rapid growth.
The significant growth of Base is driven by several key factors. Coinbase has significantly lowered the entry threshold for mainstream users through its user-friendly smart wallet. The platform gains substantial momentum from successful social applications like friend.tech and Clanker, while the popularity of memecoins further enhances activity on the Base chain. The implementation of the 'Cancun Upgrade' has notably reduced transaction fees, continuously increasing Base's appeal to developers and users.
Main trends in the public chain industry in 2024.
New chains are springing up continuously.
In 2024, project teams launched their own public chains. DeFi giant Uniswap announced Unichain; gaming platform Treasure DAO developed a ZK-based Layer 2; the NFT sector saw Pudgy Penguins launch Abstract; and Web3 platform Galxe introduced Gravity. Moreover, the entry 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.
Changes in institutional participation methods.
2024 marks a decisive shift for institutions from experimental blockchain initiatives to strategic implementation. Financial institutions lead this transformation, with BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF rapidly reaching $20 billion, and PayPal expanding PYUSD to Solana. Tech giants showcase deeper involvement through innovative approaches: Sony launches the Soneium chain for entertainment applications, while Google Cloud expands its Web3 portal services. Infrastructure development is particularly noteworthy, with Circle launching native USDC on Sui and Visa integrating Solana for settlements.
A paradigm shift in institutional investment.
The public chain sector showed strong recovery in 2024, with 174 financing events raising a total of $1.7 billion, an increase of 137.1% from the previous year. Notably, institutional investment strategies shifted from pure infrastructure to application-oriented innovations. Early 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-oriented applications over traditional infrastructure development. This is reflected in large investments in consumer-facing projects: Monad raised $225 million to optimize user experience, while Celestia and Berachain each obtained $100 million for application-oriented infrastructure.
From technical competition to application innovation.
The public chain industry underwent a fundamental transformation in 2024, shifting from technology-led strategies to application-driven approaches. This change challenges the previous dominant industry mindset of 'build first, users will come naturally.' Despite significant advancements in technical capabilities, increased network capacity has not directly translated into corresponding user growth. For instance, despite hardware limitations, the Ethereum base layer has a higher 'users per second' (UOPS) than most Layer 2s, highlighting the complex relationship between technical capabilities and actual adoption.
This reality prompts a strategic shift within the ecosystem. Blockchain platforms increasingly focus on identifying specific user needs and building targeted solutions, rather than pursuing pure technological advancement. This 'find users before building' approach is reflected in several successful initiatives. The integration of social finance has proven to be a particularly effective strategy, as demonstrated by the integration of TON’s Telegram and Base’s friend.tech, showcasing 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, particularly on platforms like Solana and Base. These networks successfully leverage 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 realm increasingly relies on understanding and serving user needs rather than solely advancing technical capabilities.
2025 Outlook.
As the blockchain industry shifts from technological experimentation to practical implementation, 2025 is expected to be a crucial year of transformation.
Regulatory clarity.
The regulatory environment shows significant 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 increased regulated products and services, while fostering competition among jurisdictions in crypto regulation.
Public chain specialization.
Public chain specialization has become the dominant trend, shifting from generic Layer 1 competition to purpose-driven architectures. Supported by cross-chain infrastructure, application-specific chains and optimized execution environments will see significant growth. The 'Rollup as a Service' (RaaS) sector is expected to expand, providing enterprises and project teams with more convenient customized blockchain solutions.
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, pushing Layer 2 scalability into a new phase; the development of chain abstraction technology will provide 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. The modular blockchain technology stack 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 enabling 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.
Conclusion.
The past year has proven that sustainable growth depends not only on technological capabilities but also on meaningful user adoption and practical utility. With increased regulatory clarity, advancements in technological infrastructure, and heightened institutional participation, the foundation for meaningful mass adoption of blockchain technology is in place. The focus has shifted from 'what's technically possible' to 'what's practically valuable,' a transition that will define the next phase of industry growth in 2025.
This content is for industry research and communication purposes only and does not constitute any investment advice. The market has risks, and investment should be cautious.
