Original title: (2024 Public Chain Industry Annual Report: From Infrastructure Competition to Application Breakthrough)
Original author: Stella L, Footprint Blockchain Analysis
2024 marks an important watershed for the public chain industry, with the industry's focus shifting from technology competition to practical application. In this year, the market value of public chains increased by 105.3% to $2.8 trillion, the price of Bitcoin exceeded $100,000, and institutional adoption was achieved through ETFs, the Ethereum Layer 2 network expanded to more than 200 chains, and the Bitcoin Layer 2 TVL increased 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 technology-driven development to application demand-driven development.
Note: Unless otherwise stated, all data in this report is as of December 20, 2024.
Market Dynamics: Growth and Transformation
The public chain industry will achieve unprecedented growth in 2024, with multiple key indicators showing significant expansion.
The total market value of public chains increased by 105.3% to $2.8 trillion. Bitcoin dominance rose to 69.8%, while Ethereum's share fell from 20.4% to 15.2%. BNB Chain and Solana's shares stabilized at 3.5% and 3.3%, and other platforms accounted for 8.1%.
The DeFi sector also showed strong growth momentum in 2024, with total volume locked (TVL) reaching $102.8 billion at the end of the year, a year-on-year increase of 88.6%. Among the top 10 public chains ranked by TVL, Bitcoin and TON experienced the most significant increases, both exceeding 2,000%. Aptos, Sui and Solana also performed well, growing 754.4%, 677.1% and 321.3% respectively. But both Tron and Avalanche experienced a decline in TVL.
The Ethereum Layer 2 ecosystem has experienced significant centralization in 2024. Arbitrum maintained its lead with TVL of $10.6 billion and market share of 41.1%, down from 50.8% in 2023. Base emerged as the dark horse of the year, jumping into second place with $5.8 billion TVL (22.5% share), while Optimism came in third with $4 billion TVL (15.8%). Together, these three platforms account for 79.1% of Ethereum L2 DeFi TVL, while previous competitors such as Blast, zkSync, and Starknet have all lost market share.
At the same time, the scale of the ecosystem continues to expand. Currently, there are 50 Rollups and 70 Validium & Optimium running on the mainnet, plus about 90 chains that are about to be launched, bringing the total number of Ethereum L2s to more than 200.
The Bitcoin Layer 2 and sidechain ecosystem has experienced explosive growth, with total locked value reaching $2.6 billion, a significant increase of 1,277.6% from 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, the number of active chains has more than doubled throughout the year, with nearly 20 chains now.
Competitive Landscape: Leaders and Challengers
In 2024, the competitive landscape of the public chain ecosystem will change significantly, mainly reflected in the increasing dominance of Bitcoin, the resurgence of Solana, and the rise of emerging challengers.
Bitcoin: From Store of Value to Financial Infrastructure
Bitcoin has seen exceptional growth in 2024, with a 129.2% increase in price and a 131.7% increase in market cap. This growth was driven by institutional adoption of spot ETFs, the April halving event, and positive post-election sentiment in the US. In addition to breaking the $100,000 price milestone, there were two key developments in the Bitcoin ecosystem:
Institutional adoption: The successful launch of spot ETFs in January revolutionized institutional access, 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 a speculative asset to a recognized store of value.
BTCfi rises: The Bitcoin ecosystem has expanded beyond price growth through innovative financial products. Babylon’s Bitcoin staking project, Solv Protocol’s cross-chain solution, and Core’s Fusion upgrade all demonstrate a maturing ecosystem. Cross-chain functionality has made progress through BOB Network’s integration with Optimism and BEVM’s “Super Bitcoin” framework, although standardization remains challenging.
Ethereum: Layer 2 drives ecosystem evolution
2024 is a critical year for Ethereum's transformation into a Layer 2-centric ecosystem. Despite a 55.8% price increase to $3,744, Ethereum faces the complex challenge of repositioning its role and maintaining relevance against the backdrop of growing Layer 2 adoption. The successful launch of a spot ETF in July has gained some institutional recognition, but Ethereum's price performance has clearly lagged behind Bitcoin.
The Ethereum mainnet has made important changes 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 income, sparking discussions about the long-term sustainability of Ethereum. The Ethereum Foundation has responded through multiple initiatives, including the implementation of Proto-Danksharding (EIP-4844), the development of cross-L2 communication standards, and strengthening the security requirements of Layer 2 solutions.
The Layer 2 ecosystem showed significant growth and consolidation throughout the year. Notable new entrants enriching the ecosystem include World Chain, Uniswap’s Unichain, and Sony’s Soneium. This evolution highlights Ethereum’s transformation from a pure execution layer to a settlement and security provider for a diverse Layer 2 ecosystem. While questions remain about revenue models and competitive dynamics, Ethereum's continued growth in developer activity and scaling solution innovation demonstrates its ability to adapt.
Solana: The Third Giant
2024 saw Solana’s comeback, with a 70.8% price increase and a 90.9% market cap increase, with the coin price exceeding $260 in November to set a new all-time high. This resurgence began with the Jupiter airdrop in January, and the Solana ecosystem has never been more active. Solana has established itself as a retail trading hub and cultivated a vibrant meme and DeFi community. In addition to meme culture, Solana has made progress in multiple areas: re-staking protocols, modular Layer 2 solutions, and stablecoin innovation. The ecosystem has further extended its influence through the expansion of SVM chains such as Eclipse, Soon, Atlas, and Sonic.
The rise of new 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 increasing by 84.3%. TON's success mainly stems from its deep integration with Telegram, effectively building a bridge between traditional social networks and blockchain technology. The platform simplifies the crypto experience through Telegram wallet functionality and blockchain integration, providing millions of users with easy access to games, memes, and DeFi apps, establishing a model for mass adoption.
Sui: From Move language pioneer to ecosystem leader
Sui performed well, with the token price soaring 461.6% and the market value increasing by 1,363.8%. This success reflects the market's confidence in the development of the Move language technology and ecosystem. Sui's focus on DeFi and gaming, including Telegram game integration and the innovative SuiPlay0X1 game console development, shows its comprehensive layout for ecosystem growth. The platform's emphasis on user experience and protocol development creates a positive network effect, attracting the participation of developers and users.
Base: Institutional background drives rapid growth
Base's significant growth is driven by several key factors. Coinbase significantly lowers the barrier to entry for mainstream users through its user-friendly smart wallet implementation. The platform gained substantial momentum from successful social apps like friend.tech and Clanker, while the popularity of memecoin further boosted Base on-chain activity. The implementation of the “Cancun Upgrade” has significantly reduced transaction fees, making Base increasingly attractive to developers and users.
Major trends in the public chain industry in 2024
New chains emerge in endlessly
In 2024, project owners have launched their own public chains. DeFi giant Uniswap announced Unichain; gaming platform Treasure DAO developed ZK-based Layer 2; NFT field saw Pudgy Penguins launch Abstract; Web3 platform Galxe launched Gravity. Not only that, the entry of innovative new chains such as Monad, Berachain and HyperLiquid reflects the transformation of the public chain industry to professional blockchain infrastructure.
Institutional adoption: From exploration to strategic integration
Changes in institutional engagement
2024 marks a decisive shift in institutional adoption from experimental blockchain initiatives to strategic implementation. Financial institutions lead 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 means: Sony launches Soneium chain for entertainment applications, while Google Cloud expands its Web3 portal services. Infrastructure developments are particularly noteworthy, with Circle launching native USDC on Sui and Visa integrating Solana for settlement.
Changing paradigm of institutional investment
The public chain sector showed a strong recovery in 2024, with 174 financing events raising a total of US$1.7 billion, an increase of 137.1% over last year. It is worth noting that institutional investment strategies have shifted from pure infrastructure to application-oriented innovation. Early-stage investment events accounted for 21.4% of the total number of financing events, while Series A and B accounted for 31.8%, reflecting the increasing maturity of the ecosystem.
Venture capital's investment philosophy has evolved significantly, prioritizing user-facing applications over traditional infrastructure development. This is reflected in large investments in consumer-facing projects: Monad raised $225 million to optimize user experience, and Celestia and Berachain each received $100 million for application-oriented infrastructure.
From technology competition to application innovation
The public chain industry has undergone a fundamental transformation in 2024, shifting from technology-led to application-driven strategies. This change challenges the "build first, and users will come naturally" thinking model that previously dominated the industry. Despite significant improvements in technical capabilities, increased network capacity has not directly translated into corresponding user growth. For example, despite "hardware" limitations, the Ethereum base layer has higher "users per second" (UOPS) than most Layer 2s, highlighting the complex relationship between technical capabilities and actual adoption.
This reality has prompted a strategic shift in the ecosystem. Blockchain platforms are increasingly focused on identifying specific user needs and building targeted solutions, rather than pursuing pure technological advancement. This "find users and then build" approach has been reflected in multiple successful initiatives. Social finance integration emerged as a particularly effective strategy, with TON’s Telegram integration and Base’s friend.tech demonstrating how familiar social platforms can drive blockchain adoption. Simplifying the user experience through account abstraction and familiar authentication methods significantly lowers the entry barrier for mainstream users.
The evolution of meme culture in the blockchain space further exemplifies this shift toward application-oriented development. What started out as purely speculative activity evolved into an effective channel for user acquisition, particularly on platforms like Solana and Base. These networks have successfully leveraged meme-related initiatives to drive ecosystem growth while building sustainable community engagement. The success of these user-centric approaches demonstrates that sustainable growth in the blockchain space increasingly relies on understanding and serving user needs rather than purely advancing technical capabilities.
Outlook for 2025
2025 promises to be a significant transformational year as the blockchain industry moves from technology experimentation to real-world implementation.
Regulatory Clarity
The regulatory environment shows promise for significant improvement, particularly in the United States. A clearer regulatory framework is expected to benefit the entire industry, especially the progress of stablecoin legislation. This regulatory clarity will facilitate increased blockchain adoption by institutions through regulated products and services, while promoting competition among jurisdictions in crypto regulation.
Public chain professionalization
The specialization of public chains has become a dominant trend, shifting from general Layer 1 competition to purpose-oriented architecture. With the support of cross-chain infrastructure, application-specific chains and optimized execution environments will gain great development. The "Rollup as a Service" (RaaS) field is expected to expand, providing enterprises and project parties 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 and push Layer 2 expansion into a new stage; the development of chain abstraction technology will bring a more intuitive user experience; and cross-chain communication standardization will simplify interoperability.
At the infrastructure level, we expect to see more developments driven by actual needs. The modular blockchain technology stack will mature and provide specialized solutions for data availability, settlement, and execution layers. It is worth noting that the deep integration of AI technology and blockchain will reshape the infrastructure: from improving the user interface to implementing complex on-chain AI agents, from decentralized model training to supporting social financial integration, these innovations will provide support for 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 technical capabilities, but also on meaningful user adoption and real utility. With increased regulatory clarity, technical infrastructure advancements, and increased institutional participation, the foundation for meaningful mass adoption of blockchain technology is in place. The shift in focus from "what's technically possible" to "what's practically valuable" will define the industry's next phase of growth in 2025.
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