2024 marks an important watershed in the public chain industry, with the industry's focus shifting from technological competition to practical application implementation. During this year, the market value of the public chain increased by 105.3% to US$2.8 trillion, the price of Bitcoin exceeded US$100,000, and institutional-level adoption was achieved through ETFs, the Ethereum Layer 2 network expanded to more than 200 chains, and Bitcoin Layer 2 TVL grew by 1,277.6%, both demonstrating the industry's shift from technological experimentation to practical real-world applications. The public chain industry is undergoing a gradual transformation from technology-driven development to application demand-driven development.

Note: Unless otherwise stated, all data in this report are as of December 20, 2024.

Market Dynamics: Growth and Transformation

The public chain industry will achieve unprecedented growth in 2024, with many key indicators showing significant expansion.

The total market value of public chains increased by 105.3% to reach US$2.8 trillion. Bitcoin dominance rose to 69.8%, while Ethereum’s share fell from 20.4% to 15.2%. The shares of BNB chain and Solana were stable at 3.5% and 3.3%, while other platforms accounted for 8.1%.

The DeFi sector will also show strong growth momentum in 2024. The total locked-up volume (TVL) reached US$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 concentration in 2024 change situation. Arbitrum maintains its leadership position with a TVL of $10.6 billion and a market share of 41.1%, compared withThat’s 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 ranked 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, 50 Rollups and 70 Validium & Optimium are running on the main network. There are about 90 chains that are about to go online, and the total number of Ethereum L2 exceeds 200.

Bitcoin Layer 2 and side chain ecology experience explosive growth , the total locked amount reached US$2.6 billion, a significant 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 the number of active chains has also more than doubled throughout the year, with nearly 20 chains now.

Competitive Landscape: Leaders and Challengers

2024, The competitive landscape of the chain ecosystem has changed 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 achieved exceptional growth in 2024, with a price increase of 129.2% and a market capitalization increase of 131.7 %. This growth was driven by a combination of institutional adoption of spot ETFs, the April halving event, and positive post-election sentiment in the US. In addition to surpassing the $100,000 price milestone, there are two major key developments in the Bitcoin ecosystem:

Institutional adoption increases: Spot ETFs in January The successful issuance has completely changed the institutional access pattern., in which BlackRock’s product quickly reached $20 billion. Bitcoin has surpassed silver and Saudi Aramco to become the seventh-largest asset in the world, marking a shift from a speculative asset to a recognized store of value.

BTCfi Rise: The Bitcoin ecosystem expands 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 an increasingly mature ecosystem. Cross-chain capabilities are making progress through the BOB Network’s integration with Optimism and BEVM’s “Super Bitcoin” framework, among others, although standardization still faces challenges.

Ethereum: Layer 2 drives ecological evolution

2024 is a critical year for Ethereum to transform into a Layer 2 central ecosystem. Despite a 55.8% price increase to $3,744, Ethereum faces complex challenges in repositioning its role and staying relevant amid growing Layer 2 adoption. The successful launch of a spot ETF in July gained some institutional recognition, but Ethereum's price performance has significantly lagged Bitcoin's.

The Ethereum mainnet has achieved important changes through the "Cancun Upgrade", successfully reducing Layer 2 transaction costs and improving scalability. However, the migration of activity to Layer 2 has led to a decline in Ethereum’s own fee revenue, sparking discussions about Ethereum’s long-term sustainability. The Ethereum Foundation responded with multiple 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 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 the revenue model and competitive dynamics, Ethereum’s continued growth in developer activity and scaling solution innovation demonstrates its ability to adapt.

Solana: The third giant

2024 witnessed Solana’s strong comeback, with a price increase of 70.8%, a market capitalization increase of 90.9%, and the currency price exceeding $260 in November to hit a record high. This renaissance began with the Jupiter airdrop in January and Solana ecosystem activities Unprecedentedly active. Solana has established itself as a hub for retail trading, cultivating a vibrant meme and DeFi community. Progress is made in multiple areas: re-staking protocols, modular Layer 2 solutions, and stablecoin innovation. The ecosystem further extends its influence through the expansion of SVM chains such as Eclipse, Soon, Atlas, and Sonic.

Emerging forces. The Rise of TON, Sui and BaseTON: Social Integration Drives Platform Growth

The Open Network (TON) shows significant growth in 2024, Toncoin price rises 149.6%, and the market value increased by 84.3%. TON's success is mainly due to its deep integration with Telegram, which effectively bridges the gap between traditional social networks and blockchain technology. The platform simplifies encryption through Telegram wallet functions and blockchain integration. experience, providing easy access to games, memes, and DeFi applications to millions of users, establishing an exemplary model for mass adoption

Sui: From Move language pioneer to ecosystem leader

Sui performed brilliantly, 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 Move language technology and ecosystem. Sui focuses on the DeFi and gaming fields, including Telegram game integration and innovative SuiPlay0X1 The development of game consoles demonstrates its comprehensive layout for ecosystem growth. The platform's emphasis on user experience and protocol development creates positive network effects and attracts the participation of developers and users.

Base: Institutional context drives rapid growth

Base's significant growth is driven by several key factors. Coinbase Significantly lowering the barrier to entry for mainstream users through its user-friendly smart wallet implementation The platform gains substantial momentum from successful social apps like friend.tech and Clanker.The popularity of memecoin has further increased activity on the Base chain. The implementation of the “Cancun Upgrade” significantly reduces transaction fees, making Base increasingly attractive to developers and users.

The main trends in the public chain industry in 2024 are new chains emerging in an endless stream

In 2024, project parties will launch their own public chains one after another. DeFi giant Uniswap announced Unichain; gaming platform Treasure DAO developed ZK-based Layer 2; the NFT space 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 into professional blockchain infrastructure.

Institutional Adoption: Shifting Institutional Engagement from Exploration to Strategic Integration

2024 marks a shift in institutional adoption from experimental to strategic blockchain initiatives A decisive shift in implementation. Financial institutions are leading the transformation, with BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF quickly reaching $20 billion and PayPal expanding PYUSD to Solana. Tech giants are showing deeper involvement through innovative ways: Sony launched its Soneium chain for entertainment applications, while Google Cloud expanded its Web3 portal service. Infrastructure developments are particularly notable, with Circle launching native USDC on Sui and Visa integrating Solana for settlement.

Changes in institutional investment paradigm

The public chain field will show a strong recovery in 2024, with 174 financing events raising a total of US$1.7 billion, an increase of 137.1% from last year %. Notably, institutional investment strategies are shifting 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 rounds accounted for 31.8%, reflecting the growing maturity of the ecosystem.

The investment philosophy of venture capital has evolved significantly, with priority given to User applications rather than 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 received $1 eachbillion for application-oriented infrastructure.

From technological competition to application innovation

The public chain industry in 2024 It has undergone a fundamental shift from a technology-led to an application-driven strategy. 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 reflects this shift toward application-oriented development. What started as pure speculation evolved into an effective user acquisition channel, especially on platforms like Solana and Base. These networks successfully leverage 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.

2025 Outlook As the blockchain industry moves from technological experimentation to actual implementation, 2025 is expected to be an important year of transformation. Regulatory Clarity

The regulatory environment shows promise for significant improvements, 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 specialization

Public chainChain specialization becomes the dominant trend, moving from general-purpose Layer 1 competition to specific purpose-oriented architectures. With the support of cross-chain infrastructure, the application of specialized 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 the Blob capacity and push Layer 2 expansion into a new stage; the development of chain abstraction technology will bring a more intuitive user experience; the standardization of cross-chain communication will simplify interoperability.

At the infrastructure level, we expect to see more development driven by real demand. The modular blockchain technology stack will mature, providing 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 user interfaces to implementing complex on-chain AI agents, from decentralized model training to supporting social financial integration, these innovations will be While maintaining security and decentralization, it provides support for more complex application scenarios and lays 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, technological infrastructure advancements and increased institutional involvement, the foundations are in place for meaningful mass adoption of blockchain technology. The shift in focus from "what's technically possible" to "what's practically valuable" will define the next phase of industry growth in 2025.

The content of this article is only for industry research and communication and does not constitute any investment advice. The market is risky and investment needs to be cautious.