2024 Mainstream Public Chain Development Review: Data Performance Varies, Emerging Public Chains Stand Out

2024 is undoubtedly an important year in the development history of cryptocurrencies. The approval of Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs marks the gradual emergence of cryptocurrencies as an internationally recognized new asset class. Bitcoin has broken through the $100,000 barrier, and MEME coins on Solana are emerging one after another, creating a stark contrast in the market. Behind these changes, public chains remain the core battleground of the crypto market, with various competitions reflected in the battles between public chains.

From a data perspective, which public chains will truly rise in 2024? Which public chains' decline is not being underestimated? We conducted a review and summary on this.

The subjects of this inventory are the popular Layer 1 and Layer 2 public chains, focusing on dimensions such as TVL, token price, market capitalization, number of active addresses, and number of transactions throughout the year, with a time span from January 1, 2024, to December 29, 2024. Some public chains that went live on the mainnet during the year will use the initial data at the time of token launch and the year-end data.

The public chains involved 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 have the highest increases

In terms of TVL data, the overall TVL of these public chains has grown by 117.7% this year. Among them, Layer 1's TVL averaged a growth of 707.69% in 2024, while Layer 2 projects saw an average growth of 8515.22% in TVL. However, the high growth of Layer 2 is mainly influenced by Taiko, which saw a TVL increase of 825 times. Excluding Taiko, the average growth of other Layer 2s is 294.69%.

The highest TVL growth in Layer 1 is seen in Hyperliquid, TON, and Aptos, with all experiencing growth of over 10 times; Hyperliquid's TVL has increased by 4407% since its launch. In Layer 2, Taiko and Base are the growth champions this year, with Taiko's TVL increasing by 82500% from its launch until the end of the year, and Base experiencing an annual growth of about 721.51%.

The TVL of some public chains has decreased instead of increasing, with zkSync experiencing the most significant decline, down 41.25% this year, followed by Optimism (-16.69%), Fantom (-13.95%), Tron (-9.17%), and Polygon (-1.67%).

Half of the public chains see a decline in daily active users, with Solana having the highest daily active users.

In terms of network activity, Hyperliquid, Sui, and TON saw the highest growth in daily active addresses in 2024, with increases of 13381.48%, 3350.55%, and 2409.43% respectively. Additionally, public chains like Base, Aptos, and Solana also saw their daily active data increase by over 10 times.

However, among the 22 public chains, 9 chains have experienced varying degrees of decline in daily active user data. Among them, the daily active users of zkSync and StarkNet have seen the most severe decline in 2024, exceeding 90%. The daily active levels of Near, Blast, Polygon, Avalanche, Cardano, Optimism, and Tron have also decreased compared to the beginning of the year.

At the beginning of the year, Tron ranked first with 2.2 million daily active addresses. After a year of changes, Solana has become the public chain with the highest number of daily active addresses, reaching 4 million daily active addresses, with its peak daily active data hitting 8.8 million, making it the public chain with the largest number of users.

In terms of daily trading volume, Hyperliquid has once again become the fastest-growing public blockchain, with a trading volume increase of about 248,900% this year. Taiko grew by 4,471.43%, and Base grew by 1,948.78%, all exceeding a tenfold increase. The trading volume on the Avalanche (C-Chain) network has seen the most significant decline, dropping from 2.8 million transactions at the beginning of the year to 260,000 transactions, a decrease of 90.71%. However, this was mainly due to an unusual fluctuation at the beginning of the year. Excluding this situation, Avalanche's daily average trading volume has basically maintained at several hundred thousand transactions per day, with little fluctuation.

zkSync's decline has also reached 90%. Since the end of the airdrop, the number of on-chain transactions has rapidly dropped from the millions to just over a hundred thousand per day.

Cryptocurrency prices show mixed performance, HYPE leads the way

In terms of token performance, about half of the tokens increased and half decreased throughout the year. The Hyperliquid token performed the best, with a year-to-date increase of approximately 1272.30%, and a maximum increase of 1648.00%, making it the only public chain token to exceed a tenfold increase. However, it is worth noting that HYPE was only issued at the end of November, which gives it a certain advantage in the calculation of increases compared to other public chain tokens.

Other public chains with better performing tokens include Sui, TON, Tron, and BNB Chain, all of which have seen their token prices rise by more than 100%. Although Solana has been very popular in the market this year, the price of its token SOL has only increased by 92.26%.

Compared to the beginning of the year, the prices of tokens for 10 public chains have decreased to varying degrees. Excluding the 2 tokens that have not been issued, Base and Linea, this proportion is exactly 50%. Among the tokens that have decreased, StarkNet and Blast have seen the largest drops, 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, reaching $409.4 billion by the end of the year, reflecting an annual growth of about 49.28%. BNB consistently ranks second in market capitalization, with a growth rate slightly higher than SOL.

Ethereum performs steadily, Solana rises unexpectedly

Solana is a public chain that must be mentioned in 2024, with its data changes being remarkable, completely stepping out of the shadow of the FTX collapse. In the past year, Solana has led the MEME trend, becoming the public chain with the most users thanks to the popularity of MEME. At the beginning of the year, Solana's TVL volume ranked fourth, rising to second by the end of the year; daily active users jumped from eighth place at the beginning of the year to first place by the end of the year.

As the elder brother of public chains, Ethereum performed relatively steadily in 2024. Many data points show little difference between the end of the year and the beginning, with daily active users growing by 9% over the year, and the daily number of transactions remaining almost flat. The TVL increased by 127%, but considering the 49% increase in the price of ETH itself, the actual change is not significant. This steady state may be related to the diversion brought about by Layer 2. Whether Ethereum can maintain this stability or face more fluctuations in the future will require more innovative content to lead the way.

Sui vs Hyperliquid: The Battle of the New Stars

Hyperliquid is undoubtedly the supernova of the public chain track this year, ranking among the top in almost all growth rates. However, there are some objective factors to consider regarding its rapid rise: first, it has the shortest birth time; second, although the growth rate is high, its overall scale is still significantly behind public chains like Ethereum or Solana. For example, Hyperliquid currently has a total user count of only 286,500, which is less than Solana's daily active users at the beginning of the year; its TVL is about 1.7 billion USD, which is one-fifth of Solana's.

However, Hyperliquid is already close to Solana in terms of daily transaction volume, ranking second. The development potential of Hyperliquid in 2025 is still enormous, but this growth requires stronger and sustained data support.

Sui is considered a major competitor to Solana in the future. In terms of data performance, the Sui network has shown remarkable 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 peaked at over 300 million in a single day. The token price increase is second only to Hyperliquid, rising about 441.13% year-to-date, with the highest increase exceeding 520.25%. In terms of growth speed, Sui has already surpassed Solana in certain aspects, but it also faces competition from projects like Hyperliquid and Aptos. In 2025, whether the Sui ecosystem can explode may require finding new growth points.

Other public chains are also not to be outdone in 2024, such as Near transforming towards AI and Fantom rebranding as Sonic for a brand upgrade. The Layer 2 track is also one of the hot narratives in 2024, but most star projects have not performed well on-chain after airdrops. Instead, Layer 2 projects like Base, which do not yet have a token plan, have performed better. Although Taiko does not have high market popularity, its on-chain performance is good; however, the overall data volume is still small, and future development will need to be observed.

Overall, the tokens with the largest price increases in 2024 are basically the public chains with the best growth in active users. This may indicate that for the development of public chains, users remain the most important metric. For investors, how to assess the future expectations of a project may have its secrets hidden in these simple data.