PANews 2025 Annual Public Blockchain Data Review: A Moment of "Naked Swimming," Who Is Growing Against the Trend?

Author: Frank, PANews

2025 will be a dramatic and watershed year for the public blockchain sector in the crypto world. If 2024 was a "carnival night" in which various new public blockchains competed for attention with high expectations of airdrops and grand narratives, then 2025 will be the "wake-up call" after the carnival.

As the tide recedes and liquidity tightens, the true data, once obscured by the facade of prosperity, begins to surface. We witness a stark contrast: on one hand, secondary market prices have generally halved and TVL growth has slowed significantly; on the other hand, on-chain fee revenue and DEX trading volume have surged against the trend.

The stark contrast reveals the harsh truth: the market is no longer buying into mere "narratives," and funds are concentrating on leading agreements with the ability to generate revenue and meet essential needs.

PANews' data team comprehensively compiled core data for 26 mainstream public chains in 2025, including TVL, token price, fee revenue, activity level, and investment and financing. We attempted to use these cold numbers to reconstruct the "bubble-bursting" process that the public chain market experienced in that year, and to find the real winners who were able to build a solid moat even in the midst of the downturn.

(Data notes: TVL, stablecoins, funding and fee data are sourced from Devilama; daily active users and daily trading volume data are from Artemis and on-chain information; token price and market capitalization data are sourced from Coingecko. The data period is from January 1, 2025 to December 16, 2025.)

TVL in All Its Forms: DeFi is Experiencing the Growing Pains of Deleveraging Amid a Cliff-like Drop in Growth Rate.

Looking at TVL (Total Value Added), the most important indicator for measuring the prosperity of public blockchains, leading public blockchains saw a slight overall increase this year, but the growth rate slowed. PANews's statistics show that the total TVL of the 26 major public blockchains increased by 5.89% this year, including 5 newly selected blockchains that initially had zero TVL. Furthermore, only 11 blockchains achieved positive TVL growth, accounting for approximately 42%. In contrast, the total annual TVL growth of the 22 mainstream public blockchains surveyed in 2024 was 119%, representing a growth rate of 78%.

The slowdown in TVL growth reflects the chill in the entire crypto market. However, this doesn't mean 2025 will be a completely uneventful year. Looking at the overall industry TVL, the total network TVL reached $168 billion in October, a 45% increase from $115.7 billion at the beginning of the year. It was only after October that the market crash caused a sharp decline in the overall market TVL. This was partly due to the drop in prices of various public chain base tokens, and partly due to risk aversion leading many funds to withdraw from the DeFi system.

Among the top ten public blockchains, Hyperliquid is clearly the winner in 2025. Compared to the single-digit growth of other public blockchains, Hyperliquid's TVL achieved a 299% increase this year. Solana, on the other hand, was the most disappointing , with only 0.8% growth. With the cooling of the MEME coin market, this public blockchain giant seems to be facing a crisis. Furthermore, among the 26 public blockchains surveyed, Flare's growth rate exceeded 582%, making it the fastest-growing public blockchain. OP Mainnet's TVL, however, declined by 63.6%, making it the public blockchain with the most severe decline.

Prices have plummeted by an average of 50%, and the market is no longer willing to pay for new public blockchains.

In terms of price, the final performance of these mainstream public chains this year was also disappointing. Compared to the beginning of the year, the token prices of these 26 public chains have fallen by an average of 50%. Among them, Movement token price fell by 95%, Berachain token price fell by 92%, and Scroll fell by 91%. These newly established public chains have failed to gain market recognition.

Among the public blockchains surveyed, only four have seen price increases this year: BNB Chain (22%), Hyperliquid (14.2%), Tron (9.30%), and Mantle (3%). The rest have experienced price declines.

However, the changes behind TVL and price are primarily influenced by fluctuations in crypto market liquidity. Analyzing public blockchain ecosystem development indicators reveals a different picture.

Protocol revenues surge, public blockchains collectively enter a new phase of "self-sustaining" growth.

Regarding on-chain fees, the public chains surveyed generated a total of $10.4 billion in on-chain fees in 2024, while this figure increased to $16.75 billion in 2025, representing an overall increase of 60%. Furthermore, except for OP Mainnet, Mantle, and Scroll, whose fees declined, all other public chains achieved growth in 2025.

The largest increase in fees was still seen in Hyperliquid (9388.9%), mainly due to its relatively small initial base as it had just launched at the end of 2024. Additionally, Solana saw a 107% increase in fees, BNB Chain 77%, Sui 126%, and Aptos 290%. It can be said that the revenue-generating capabilities of mainstream public blockchains significantly improved in 2025.

In addition, the trading volume of DEXs on various public chains also achieved an overall growth of 88%, with an average increase of 163%. Among them, Solana has even overtaken Ethereum, becoming the public chain with the highest trading volume at $1.52 trillion. BNB Chain is also closely following Ethereum with a trading volume of $697.2 billion, and it is very likely that it will also overtake Ethereum in 2026.

Hyperliquid remains the fastest growing, with an annual DEX trading increase of 1217.00%, while Flare ranks second with an increase of 880%.

Once the "airdrop hunters" leave, new public blockchains face difficulties in user retention.

In terms of daily active user data, the situation is mixed.

Overall, the number of daily active addresses on these public blockchains increased from 14.86 million to 17.6 million, representing an overall increase of 18%. Achieving this level of performance amidst a sluggish market is a relatively positive sign.

On the other hand, several public chains that were once the best indicators of retail investor activity, such as Solana, Base, and Sui, have all experienced varying degrees of decline. Base's daily active users (DAU) have decreased by 84.9% since the beginning of the year, and Solana's by 37%. Recently, however, Polygon has seen exponential growth in its DAU, reaching 2.9 million on December 19th, a 612% increase compared to the beginning of the year. Furthermore, public chains like BNB Chain, Sei, and Aptos have also achieved significant increases in DAU.

In addition, regarding the number of daily transactions, these public chains also achieved an overall increase of 33% in transaction volume at the end of the year compared to the beginning of the year. Among them, BNB Chain's performance is the most outstanding, increasing from 3.5 million transactions at the beginning of the year to 14.5 million transactions, demonstrating excellent performance in both scale and growth rate. Although Solana still leads by a wide margin with 58.44 million transactions, it only achieved a growth of 2.8% for the whole year, showing signs of fatigue.

Stablecoins are poised to become the only "full-blown bull market" in 2025.

2025 was a year of explosive growth for the stablecoin market, a fact also reflected in public blockchain data. Compared to 2024, most public blockchains saw significant increases in the market capitalization of their stablecoins. Solana stood out with a 196% surge in stablecoin market capitalization, making it the fastest-growing public blockchain for stablecoins. Ethereum and Tron, the top two stablecoin public blockchains, also maintained year-to-date growth of 46% and 37%, respectively. In addition, some other active public blockchains this year, such as BNB Chain and Hyperliquid, also achieved substantial growth in stablecoins.

Ecosystem Funding: Polygon Wins with Star Project, Ethereum and Solana Remain Popular

In addition, another data dimension worth noting is funding. The crypto industry saw record-breaking funding in 2025. PANews compiled 6,710 funding events and categorized them by the public blockchains involved. The data shows a significant decrease in the number of funding rounds for these public blockchains in 2025, from 640 to 293. However, the total amount raised increased from $350 million to $667 million, and the average funding amount per round rose from $5.57 million to $22.79 million. This also suggests that it may be more difficult for small and medium-sized startups to raise funds in the current market, while capital is more willing to invest in high-profile projects.

In terms of public blockchains, Polygon topped the list with $2.24 billion in funding, followed by Ethereum and Solana with $1.57 billion and $1.34 billion respectively. However, Polygon's lead is primarily due to Polymarket's massive funding of over $2 billion. A closer look at the number of funding events reveals that the majority occurred within the Ethereum, Solana, Bitcoin, and Base ecosystems.

The following is an analysis of several public blockchains that are of key market focus:

Ethereum: The journey has been arduous, but the fundamental recovery and stagnant price action present a misalignment.

As the leading public blockchain, Ethereum's development in 2025 can be described as "a light boat sailing over ten thousand mountains." After experiencing stagnation in ecosystem data and market price due to severe L2 traffic diversion in 2024, Ethereum actually saw significant growth in ecosystem data in 2025, particularly in DEX trading volume (up 38.8%), stablecoin market capitalization (up 46%), and on-chain active addresses (up 71%). Furthermore, it continued to lead most public blockchains in ecosystem funding events and amounts. These data indicators suggest that the Ethereum mainnet ecosystem recovered in 2025.

However, in terms of price and TVL data, it remains stagnant due to the overall market correction. Nevertheless, compared to other public blockchain tokens, Ethereum's price performance has shown relatively greater resilience.

Solana: MEME was both its strength and its weakness; the fragility revealed after the bursting of the boom bubble.

Compared to 2024, Solana presented a different picture in 2025: its ecosystem fragility exposed after a period of dramatic rise and fall. After the MEME market's initial boom followed by a decline, Solana failed to develop a compelling narrative, instead witnessing continued fierce competition among various launch platforms in the MEME coin arena. Consequently, although there were significant increases in fee capture and DEX trading volume this year, the token price, year-end active users, and number of transactions all experienced severe declines. This also suggests that the market is voting with its feet, and Solana's boom bubble appears to have burst.

BNB Chain: From Defense to Full-Scale Offense, a "Hexagonal Warrior" Achieving Multi-Dimensional Growth

BNB Chain experienced explosive growth in 2025, achieving positive growth across all statistical dimensions. In particular, fee revenue, DEX trading volume, stablecoin market capitalization, and on-chain activity all saw growth exceeding 100%. This is rare given the overall sluggish state of the public blockchain market.

Of course, such achievements are inextricably linked to Binance. From top executives like CZ actively participating in marketing, to the launch of Binance Alpha becoming a "must-do" for many retail investors looking to profit from cryptocurrencies, to new derivatives exchanges like Aster targeting Hyperliquid, BNB Chain's counterattack in 2024 has transformed into a full-scale offensive. This offensive is so powerful that BNB Chain has likely become an opponent that cannot be ignored by any other public chain.

Hyperliquid: The biggest dark horse of the year, teaching the industry a lesson with "real returns".

Similar to BNB Chain, Hyperliquid also shone brightly in 2025. Apart from a slight decrease in market capitalization compared to the beginning of the year (-5.3%), all other data showed positive growth, and the growth rate of many data points was the largest among all public chains.

In 2025, Hyperliquid ranked ninth in TVL across the entire network, third in fee generation, sixth in DEX trading volume, and fifth in stable market capitalization. These rankings demonstrate that Hyperliquid has become a truly mainstream public chain, and as a newcomer to the market, achieving such results is clearly a great success. Furthermore, it was one of the very few public chains in 2025 that could sustain its entire ecosystem through real-world revenue without relying on inflationary incentives.

However, Hyperliquid has recently encountered strong competitors, with Aster and Lighter closing in on its trading volume. It seems that Hyperliquid, which was a challenger just last year, may be focusing on defending its position in 2026.

Sui: Unlocking the "squat" under immense pressure requires reshaping through the bursting of the bubble.

As a promising emerging public blockchain that aggressively pursued Solana in 2024 and was highly anticipated by the market, Sui experienced a relatively quiet year in 2025. Among all mainstream public blockchains, Sui's price drop (-64%) and TVL drop (-46.8%) both indicate market pressure. This was mainly attributed to Sui entering a "intensive unlocking period" in 2025. A large amount of tokens held by early investors and the team entered the market, coupled with a cooling market overall, leading to downward pressure on the price.

Meanwhile, in terms of ecosystem activity, daily active users and daily transaction volume have remained almost flat compared to the beginning of the year, reflecting the root cause of Sui's stagnation this year: a lack of new narratives and a failure to fully capitalize on the MEME market. However, judging from the growth in data such as funding amount and DEX trading volume, the capital market has not completely abandoned Sui, and 2026 may be the year of reshaping after the bubble bursts.

Tron: An extreme pragmatist, the "King of Cash Flow" deeply rooted in the payments industry.

Tron's development trajectory in 2025 established a different narrative style for the public blockchain market: quietly making money by riding the wave of stablecoins. Although it experienced a roughly 50% pullback in both TVL and token price, Tron still generated $184 million in on-chain fees (an increase of 126.9%) and expanded DEX trading volume by 224%, thanks to the stable performance of the stablecoin market. For Tron, rather than chasing hot topics and seeking new narratives, it's better to focus on mastering the fundamentals of global stablecoin settlement. This pragmatic approach has made it a public blockchain with stable cash flow and strong user stickiness.

Looking back at the public blockchain landscape in 2025, this is not only an annual report card, but also a microcosm of the development of public blockchains.

The data's red and black lists clearly tell us that the era of rampant, unregulated growth in the public blockchain sector is over, replaced by a brutal "zero-sum game" and an oligopolistic trend. Whether it's Solana's traffic anxiety after the MEME craze subsided, Sui's price pain under the pressure of token unlocking, or the disastrous price drops of emerging public chains like Movement and Scroll in the secondary market, all these demonstrate that the false prosperity maintained by VC funding and points-based manipulation is unsustainable.

However, amidst the widespread decline, we can also see the industry's resilience evolving. BNB Chain's explosive growth across its entire ecosystem, Hyperliquid's reliance on extremely real returns, and Tron's pragmatic and in-depth cultivation in the payment sector have collectively pointed to the survival rules for 2026: survive not by telling stories, but by making money; not by inflating numbers, but by having real users.

The chill of 2025 may have been biting, but it successfully squeezed out the bubble that had been attached to public blockchains for years. Looking ahead to 2026, we have reason to believe that on this cleaner, more pragmatic foundation, public blockchains will no longer be merely speculative casinos, but will truly become global financial infrastructure supporting large-scale value exchange.