Review of Public Chain Development in 2024: Data Changes Reveal New Industry Patterns

The year 2024 is destined to be an extremely important year in the development of cryptocurrencies. The formal approval of Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs, as well as the proposal for Bitcoin to be used as a national strategic reserve, marks the gradual recognition of cryptocurrencies as a new type of emerging asset on the international stage. In the market, Bitcoin has surpassed the $100,000 mark, the MEME coin craze on Solana is rising, while some once-celebrated projects have quietly faded, presenting a stark contrast in fortunes. Behind these changes, public chains remain the core battlefield of the crypto market, with various competitions ultimately reflected in the contests between public chains.

So from a data perspective, which public chains truly rose in 2024? Which public chains' decline is not just undervalued, but a real regression? This article provides a comprehensive review and summary of this.

The objects of this inventory are high-profile Layer 1 and Layer 2 public chains, focusing on dimensions such as TVL, token prices, market capitalization, number of active addresses, and transaction counts throughout the year, with a time span from January 1, 2024, to December 29, 2024. For public chains that went live on the mainnet in 2024, the initial data at the time of token launch and the end-of-year data will be compared.

The public chains involved in this review include:

Layer1: Solana, Ethereum, BNB Chain, Sui, Aptos, TON, Avalanche, Cardano, Hyperliquid, Fantom (Sonic), Tron, Near

Layer 2: Base, Arbitrum, Optimism, zkSync, Polygon, Blast, Scroll, StarkNet, Taiko, Linea

Layer1 TVL average growth of 7 times, Hyperliquid and TON perform remarkably

Overall, the TVL data of these public blockchains analyzed has grown by 117.7% over the year. Among them, Layer 1's TVL has increased by an average of 707.69% in 2024, while Layer 2 projects have seen an average TVL growth of 8515.22%. However, the high growth rate of Layer 2 is mainly influenced by Taiko's relatively low TVL at the time of its launch, which saw a growth multiple of 825 times. Excluding Taiko, the average growth of other Layer 2 projects this year is 294.69%.

The highest TVL growth in Layer 1 is seen in Hyperliquid, TON, and Aptos, all of which have increased by more than 10 times, with Hyperliquid's TVL growing by 4407% since its launch. In Layer 2, Taiko and Base are this year's growth champions, with Taiko's TVL increasing by 82500% from its launch to the end of the year, while Base's TVL grew by approximately 721.51% over the year.

However, there are also some public chains whose TVL has decreased instead of increasing. zkSync has seen the most significant decline, with its TVL dropping by 41.25% within the year, followed by Optimism (-16.69%), Fantom (-13.95%), Tron (-9.17%), and Polygon (-1.67%).

Network Activity: Half of Public Chains Experience Decline in Daily Active Users, Solana Emerges as a Dark Horse

In terms of network activity, Hyperliquid, Sui, and TON saw the highest daily active address growth in 2024, reaching 13381.48%, 3350.55%, and 2409.43%, respectively. In addition, several public chains such as Base, Aptos, and Solana also experienced more than a tenfold increase in daily active data over the year.

However, among the 22 public chains analyzed, 9 public chains experienced varying degrees of decline in daily active user data this year. Among them, zkSync and StarkNet saw the most significant decline in daily active users in 2024, exceeding 90%. In addition, the daily active levels of Near, Blast, Polygon, Avalanche, Cardano, Optimism, and Tron have all declined to varying degrees compared to the beginning of the year.

At the beginning of the year, Tron ranked first among all public chains with 2.2 million daily active addresses. After a year of changes, Solana became the public chain with the highest daily active addresses at 4 million. In the highest daily active data recorded, Solana also reached 8.8 million, becoming the public chain with the most users.

Daily Trading Volume: Hyperliquid Hits New High

In terms of daily transaction volume, Hyperliquid has once again become the fastest-growing public chain, with a year-to-date transaction volume growth of approximately 248,900%. Taiko grew by 4,471.43%, and Base's transaction volume increased by 1,948.78%, all of which are public chains that have grown by more than 10 times.

The number of transactions on the Avalanche (C-Chain) network has declined the most severely, dropping from 2.8 million at the beginning of the year to 260,000, a decrease of 90.71%. However, this decline is mainly due to the fact that January 1, 2024, coincides with a peak period of abnormal fluctuations in Avalanche transaction numbers. Excluding this abnormal fluctuation, the average daily transaction volume of Avalanche has basically remained at several hundred thousand transactions per day, with no significant fluctuations.

In addition, zkSync's decline has reached 90%, which is indeed quite significant compared to other metrics. Since the end of the airdrop, the on-chain transaction volume has rapidly fallen from millions to just over a hundred thousand transactions per day.

Price Performance: Mixed Results, HYPE Shines Bright

In terms of token performance, half of the tokens rose and half fell throughout the year. The Hyperliquid token performed the best, with an annual increase of about 1272.30%, and a maximum increase of 1648.00%, making it the only public chain token with an increase of more than ten times. However, it should be noted that Hyperliquid's token HYPE was only issued at the end of November, which does give it a certain advantage in terms of increase when calculated from the opening price compared to other public chains.

In addition, other public chains with good token performance include Sui, TON, Tron, and BNB Chain, with token prices all rising by more than 100%. Although Solana has had high market popularity this year, its token SOL has only increased by 92.26% compared to January 1, 2024.

Compared to the beginning of the year, the token prices of 10 public chains have decreased to varying degrees. Excluding the 2 tokens that have not been issued, Base and Linea, this ratio is exactly 50%. Among the tokens that have decreased, StarkNet and Blast have seen the largest declines, reaching 75% and 65%, respectively.

In terms of market capitalization, Ethereum still holds the position of the leader among public chains, with a market cap of approximately $274.2 billion at the beginning of the year and reaching $409.4 billion by the end of the year, representing an annual growth of about 49.28%. BNB's market cap consistently ranks second, with a growth rate slightly higher than SOL.

Public Chain Ecosystem Analysis

Solana: The Shining Star of 2024

Solana is a public chain that must be mentioned in 2024. In this year, Solana's data changes are remarkable, completely stepping out of the shadow of FTX's collapse. Not only has it made significant breakthroughs in terms of scale, but it is even showing momentum to compete with Ethereum. Over the past year, Solana has led the trend of MEME, becoming the public chain with the most users thanks to the popularity of MEME.

At the beginning of the year, Solana's TVL was ranked fourth, and by the end of the year, it rose to second. The daily active users at the beginning of the year were only ranked eighth, but by the end of the year, it became the public chain with the highest daily active users.

Ethereum: The Big Brother in Steady Development

As the big brother of public chains, Ethereum seems to remain calm amidst the bustling year of 2024. Many data points show little difference between the end of the year and the beginning; daily active users grew by 9% over the year, and daily transaction counts remained almost unchanged. Only the TVL increased by 127%, and if we exclude the 49% increase in ETH price itself, the actual change in this data is not significant.

The main reason for this change may be the diversion from Layer 2. For Ethereum, whether it will maintain this steady state in the new year or experience more fluctuations may require more innovative content to lead.

Sui and Hyperliquid: The Rise of New Stars

Hyperliquid is undoubtedly the rising star in the public blockchain space this year, surprising the market with its performance. It ranks first in almost all growth metrics, such as daily active users, transaction volume, and TVL (ranking second), as well as token price growth. However, there are some objective factors to consider regarding Hyperliquid's rapid ascent. First, it has the shortest lifespan and is almost the youngest among the analyzed public blockchains. Second, although the growth rate is high, it still lags significantly behind public blockchains like Ethereum or Solana in terms of overall volume.

Sui is considered to be a major competitor to Solana in the future. From the performance data, the Sui network has also shown impressive results this year. The TVL has increased nearly 7 times this year, daily active users have grown 33.5 times, and the number of transactions has exceeded 300 million in a single day. The token price has also increased the most among public chains, aside from Hyperliquid, with an increase of about 441.13% this year, peaking over 520.25%.

Changes in the Layer 2 Ecosystem

In the Layer 2 space, 2024 is also considered one of the hottest narratives for public chains. This year, several star Layer 2 projects have distributed airdrops, but their on-chain performance has generally been poor. The best performer is actually Base, which currently has no token plans. Additionally, Taiko is also a Layer 2 with low market heat but good on-chain performance; however, the overall data volume is still not large, and future development remains to be observed.

Conclusion

After comparing the relationships between the various data of these 22 public chains, it can be observed that the tokens with the largest growth in 2024 are basically the ones with the best growth in active users among the public chains. From this perspective, the most important indicator for the development of public chains may still be users. For investors, how to assess the future expectations of a project may also hide the secrets behind these simple data.