Review of the Public Chain Industry in 2024: From Infrastructure Competition to Application Implementation

2024 is a turning point for the public chain industry, with the industry's focus shifting from technological competition to practical application implementation. In this year, the total market capitalization of public chains grew by 105.3% to reach $2.8 trillion, Bitcoin broke the $100,000 barrier and achieved institutional-level adoption through ETFs, and the Ethereum Layer 2 network expanded to over 200 chains, with Bitcoin Layer 2 TVL growing by 1277.6%. All of this indicates that the industry is moving from the stage of technological experimentation to real-world applications.

Market Dynamics: Growth and Transformation

In 2024, several key indicators in the public chain industry showed significant growth. The total market value of public chains increased to $2.8 trillion, a year-on-year growth of 105.3%. Bitcoin's market share rose to 69.8%, while Ethereum's share dropped 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 has also achieved strong growth, with a total locked value ( TVL ) reaching 10.28 billion USD by the end of the year, a year-on-year increase of 88.6%. Among the top 10 public chains by TVL, Bitcoin and TON showed the most significant growth, both exceeding 2000%. Aptos, Sui, and Solana performed impressively, growing by 754.4%, 677.1%, and 321.3%, respectively. However, the TVL of Tron and Avalanche has declined.

The Ethereum Layer 2 ecosystem shows a significant trend of centralization in 2024. Arbitrum leads with a TVL of $10.6 billion, holding a market share of 41.1%, which has decreased compared to 2023. Base has emerged strongly with a TVL of $5.8 billion and a 22.5% share, coming in second, while Optimism ranks third with a TVL of $4 billion and a 15.8% share. These three platforms account for 79.1% of the Ethereum L2 DeFi TVL. Currently, there are 50 Rollups and 70 Validium & Optimium running on the mainnet, along with about 90 chains that are about to launch, bringing the total number of Ethereum L2s to over 200.

The Bitcoin Layer 2 and sidechain ecosystem has experienced explosive growth, with a total locked value reaching $2.6 billion, a year-on-year increase of 1277.6%. Core leads with $790 million TVL, capturing a 30.3% market share, followed by Bitlayer with $1.5 billion, holding a 19.4% share, and BSquared with $1.3 billion, accounting for 12.7% share. The number of active chains has also more than doubled over the year, now with nearly 20 chains.

Competitive Landscape: Leaders and Challengers

In 2024, the competitive landscape of the public chain ecosystem has undergone significant changes, primarily manifested in the enhanced dominance of Bitcoin, the resurgence of Solana, and the rise of emerging challengers.

( Bitcoin: From Store of Value to Financial Infrastructure

Bitcoin achieved remarkable growth in 2024, with a price increase of 129.2% and a market cap growth of 131.7%. This growth was driven by institutional adoption of spot ETFs, the halving event in April, and positive sentiment following the U.S. elections. There are two key developments in the Bitcoin ecosystem:

1. Institutional adoption: The successful issuance of spot ETFs in January changed the institutional access landscape, making Bitcoin the seventh largest asset globally, marking a shift from a speculative asset to a recognized store of value.

2. The Rise of BTCfi: 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 an increasingly mature ecosystem.

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) Ethereum: Layer 2 Drives Ecological Evolution

2024 is a key year for Ethereum's transition to a Layer 2-centric ecosystem. Despite a price increase of 55.8% to $3,744, Ethereum faces challenges in repositioning its role and maintaining relevance against the backdrop of growing Layer 2 adoption.

The Ethereum mainnet has undergone significant changes through the "Cancun upgrade," successfully reducing Layer 2 transaction costs and enhancing scalability. However, the migration of activity to Layer 2 has led to a decrease in Ethereum's own fee revenue, sparking discussions about long-term sustainability. The Ethereum Foundation has responded with several initiatives, including the implementation of Proto-Danksharding(EIP-4844), the development of cross-L2 communication standards, and strengthening security requirements for Layer 2 solutions.

The Layer 2 ecosystem has shown significant growth and integration throughout the year. New entrants such as World Chain, Uniswap's Unichain, and Sony's Soneium have enriched the ecosystem. This evolution highlights Ethereum's transition from a pure execution layer to a diversified settlement and security provider for the Layer 2 ecosystem.

( Solana: The Third Giant

2024 witnessed a strong comeback for Solana, with prices rising by 70.8% and market capitalization increasing by 90.9%. In November, the coin price broke through $260, setting a new all-time high. This resurgence began with the Jupiter airdrop in January, and the Solana ecosystem has been exceptionally active. Solana has established itself as a retail trading hub, fostering a vibrant meme and DeFi community. Besides meme culture, Solana has made progress in several areas, including re-staking protocols, modular Layer 2 solutions, and stablecoin innovations. The ecosystem has further expanded its influence through the extension 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) showed significant growth in 2024, with Toncoin's price increasing by 149.6% and market capitalization growing by 84.3%. The success of TON is mainly attributed to its deep integration with Telegram, effectively bridging 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 applications.

Sui: From Move Language Pioneer to Ecosystem Leader

Sui has performed remarkably well, with its token price soaring by 461.6% and market capitalization increasing by 1363.8%. This success reflects the market's confidence in the development of Move language technology and ecosystems. Sui focuses on the DeFi and gaming sectors, including the integration of Telegram games and the innovative development of the 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 the joint participation of developers and users.

Base: Institutional background drives rapid growth

The significant growth of Base is driven by several key factors. The user-friendly smart wallet has significantly lowered the entry barrier for mainstream users. The platform has gained substantial momentum from successful social applications like friend.tech and Clanker, while the popularity of memecoins has further boosted activity on the Base chain. The implementation of the "Cancun upgrade" has significantly reduced transaction fees, continuously enhancing Base's appeal to developers and users.

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Major Trends in the Public Chain Industry in 2024

) New chains are emerging one after another

In 2024, project parties are launching their own public chains one after another. The DeFi giant Uniswap announced Unichain; the gaming platform Treasure DAO developed a ZK-based Layer 2; the NFT sector saw Pudgy Penguins launch Abstract; and the Web3 platform Galxe introduced Gravity. The entry of innovative new chains like Monad, Berachain, and HyperLiquid reflects the shift of the public chain industry towards specialized blockchain infrastructure.

Institutional Adoption: From Exploration to Strategic Integration

Change in Institutional Participation Methods

2024 marks a decisive shift for institutions from experimental blockchain initiatives to strategic implementations. Financial institutions are leading this transformation, with a certain Bitcoin ETF rapidly reaching $20 billion in scale. Tech giants are showcasing deeper involvement through innovative means: Sony launched the Soneium chain aimed at entertainment applications, while a certain cloud service provider expanded its Web3 portal services. Infrastructure development is particularly noteworthy, with a certain payment company launching a native stablecoin on Sui and a certain payment giant integrating Solana for settlement.

Change in Institutional Investment Paradigm

The public chain sector showed a strong recovery in 2024, with 174 financing events raising a total of $1.7 billion, an increase of 137.1% compared to last year. Notably, institutional investment strategies have shifted from purely infrastructure-focused to application-oriented innovations. 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 increasing maturity of the ecosystem.

The investment philosophy of venture capital has undergone a significant evolution, prioritizing user-facing applications over traditional infrastructure development. This is reflected in the large investments in consumer-facing projects: Monad raised $225 million to optimize user experience, while Celestia and Berachain each secured $100 million for application-oriented infrastructure.

From technological competition to application innovation

The public chain industry underwent a fundamental transformation in 2024, shifting from a technology-driven approach to an application-driven strategy. This shift challenged the previous dominant industry mindset of "build first, and users will naturally come." Despite significant improvements in technical capabilities, the increased network capacity did not directly translate into corresponding user growth.

This reality has prompted a strategic shift in the ecosystem. Blockchain platforms are increasingly focusing on identifying specific user needs and building targeted solutions, rather than pursuing pure technological advancement. This "finding users before building" approach is reflected in several successful initiatives. The integration of social finance has become a particularly effective strategy, with TON's Telegram integration and Base's friend.tech demonstrating how familiar social platforms can drive blockchain adoption. By simplifying user experience through account abstraction and familiar authentication methods, the entry barriers for mainstream users have 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 have successfully leveraged meme-related initiatives to drive ecosystem growth while building sustainable community engagement.

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Outlook for 2025

As the blockchain industry shifts from technological experimentation to practical implementation, 2025 is expected to be a significant year of transformation.

) Regulatory Clarity

The regulatory environment shows significant signs of improvement, especially in the United States. A clearer regulatory framework is expected to benefit the entire industry, particularly with the progress of stablecoin legislation. This regulatory clarity will promote institutional adoption of blockchain through an increase in regulated products and services, while also fostering competition in crypto regulation among different jurisdictions.

( Specialization of Public Chains

The specialization of public chains has become a dominant trend, shifting from general Layer 1 competition to purpose-specific directed architectures. With the support of cross-chain infrastructure, application-specific chains and optimized execution environments will experience significant development. "Rollup as a Service" ) RaaS ### is expected to expand, providing enterprises and project parties with more convenient customized blockchain solutions.

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) 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, pushing Layer 2 scalability into a new phase; the development of chain abstraction technology will bring a more intuitive user experience; and the standardization of cross-chain communication will simplify interoperability.

At the infrastructure level, we expect to see more development 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 the form of infrastructure: from improving user interfaces to implementing 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, paving the way for the next round of blockchain innovation.