PANews 2025 Annual Public Chain Data Review: "Naked Swimming" Moment, Who is Growing Against the Trend?

Author: Frank, PANews

The year 2025 will be a dramatic and watershed year for the public chain track in the crypto world. If 2024 is the “carnival night” where various new public chains compete for attention with high airdrop expectations and grand narratives, then 2025 will be the “moment of awakening” after the carnival.

As the tide recedes and liquidity tightens, the real data that was once masked by the appearance of prosperity begins to surface. We see a “tale of two cities”: on one side, there is a general halving of secondary market prices and a significant slowdown in TVL growth, while on the other side, there is a counter-trend surge in on-chain fee income and DEX trading volume.

The stark contrast reveals a brutal truth: the market is no longer paying for mere “narratives”; capital is concentrating on leading protocols that possess blood-generating capabilities and essential use cases.

The PANews data team has comprehensively compiled the core data for 26 mainstream public chains for the year 2025, including TVL, coin prices, fee income, activity levels, and investment and financing conditions. We aim to restore the “bubble-popping” process that the public chain market experienced this year through these cold numbers, and to identify the true winners who can still build solid moats during the winter.

(Data Description: TVL, stablecoins, financing and fee information are sourced from Defillama, daily active users and daily trading volume data come from Artemis and on-chain information, token prices and market cap data are sourced from Coingecko. The data period is from January 1, 2025, to December 16, 2025.)

TVL Overview: The growth rate has plummeted sharply, and DeFi is experiencing the “deleveraging” pains.

From the perspective of the most important metric for measuring the prosperity of public chains, TVL, the overall growth of leading public chains this year has been slight, but the growth rate has slowed down. According to PANews, the total TVL of 26 major public chains has increased by 5.89% this year, with 5 newly selected public chains starting with an initial data of 0. In addition, only 11 public chains achieved positive TVL growth, accounting for approximately 42%. In contrast, the annual total growth of TVL for 22 mainstream public chains recorded in 2024 was 119%, with a growth ratio of 78%.

The slowdown in the growth of TVL data reflects the deep chill in the entire crypto market. However, this does not mean that 2025 will be a completely dull year. From the overall industry’s perspective, the total TVL on the network reached 168 billion USD in October, which is a 45% increase compared to 115.7 billion USD at the beginning of the year. It was just after October that the market crash led to a sharp decline in the entire market's TVL scale. Part of this is due to the drop in the prices of various public chain tokens, and another part is the result of many funds choosing to withdraw from the DeFi system under risk-averse sentiment.

Among the top ten public chains, Hyperliquid is obviously the winner of 2025, achieving a 299% growth in TVL this year, compared to single-digit growth of other public chains. Solana has become the most disappointing one, with only a 0.8% growth. As the MEME coin market cools down, this public chain giant seems to be facing a crisis. Additionally, among the 26 public chains analyzed, Flare's growth rate exceeded 582%, making it the fastest-growing public chain. The TVL of OP Mainnet, on the other hand, decreased by 63.6%, becoming the public chain with the most significant decline.

The price has averaged a 50% cut, and the market is no longer investing in new public chains.

In terms of price, the final performance of these mainstream public chains this year is also unsatisfactory. Compared to the prices at the beginning of the year, the average token price of these 26 public chains has dropped by 50%. Among them, the Movement token price has decreased by 95%, the Berachain token price has decreased by 92%, and Scroll has decreased by 91%. These emerging public chains have not gained market recognition.

Among the public chains in statistics, only four chains have seen a price increase this year: BNB Chain (22%), Hyperliquid (14.2%), Tron (9.30%), and Mantle (3%), while the rest have all experienced a decline.

However, the changes behind the two data points, TVL and price, are mainly influenced by the changes in liquidity in the crypto market. After analyzing the ecological development indicators of public chains, another picture emerges.

Protocol revenue surges, public chains collectively enter a new stage of “self-sustaining”.

In terms of on-chain fees, the total on-chain fees generated by these public chains in 2024 amounted to $10.4 billion, and this figure is expected to grow to $16.75 billion in 2025, representing an overall increase of 60%. Furthermore, with the exception of OP Mainnet, Mantle, and Scroll, which saw a decline in fees, all other public chains achieved growth in 2025.

The largest increase in fees is still Hyperliquid (9388.9%), which is mainly due to Hyperliquid just launching at the end of 2024 with a relatively small initial base. In addition, Solana's fees achieved a growth of 107%, BNB Chain at 77%, Sui reached 126%, and Aptos at 290%. It can be said that the revenue-generating ability of mainstream public chains has greatly improved in 2025.

In addition, the trading volume on DEXs across various public chains has achieved an overall growth of 88%, with an average increase of 163%. Among them, Solana has made a remarkable comeback against Ethereum, topping the trading volume with $1.52 trillion, while BNB Chain closely follows Ethereum with a trading volume of $697.2 billion, making it highly likely to surpass Ethereum by 2026.

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

When the “airdrop hunters” disperse, it becomes difficult for new public chain users to retain.

The daily active user data shows a mixed picture.

Overall, the daily active address count of these public chains grew from 14.86 million to 17.6 million, representing a total increase of 18%. Achieving such data performance during a market downturn is considered a relatively positive signal.

On the other hand, several public chains that best represented retail activity in the past, such as Solana, Base, and Sui, have all experienced varying degrees of decline, with Base seeing a decrease of 84.9% in daily active users compared to the beginning of the year, and Solana declining by 37%. Recently, however, Polygon's number of daily active addresses has seen exponential growth, reaching 2.9 million daily active addresses on December 19, an increase of 612% compared to the beginning of the year. Additionally, public chains such as BNB Chain, Sei, and Aptos have also achieved significant growth in daily active users.

Additionally, in terms of daily trading volume, these public chains achieved an overall growth of 33% in transaction volume at the end of the year compared to the beginning of the year. Here, the performance of BNB Chain stands out the most, increasing from 3.5 million transactions at the start of the year to 14.5 million transactions, demonstrating remarkable scale and growth. Although Solana still leads with 58.44 million transactions, it only achieved a growth of 2.8% for the whole year, showing signs of fatigue.

Stablecoins become the only “full bull market” in 2025

The stablecoin market in 2025 is a year of explosive growth, which is also evidenced by data from public chains. Compared to 2024, the market capitalization of stablecoins on most public chains has significantly increased, with Solana standing out as the most prominent, experiencing a staggering 196% increase in stablecoin market capitalization this year, making it the public chain with the largest growth in stablecoins. Ethereum and Tron, as the top two public chains for stablecoins, also maintained year-on-year growth of 46% and 37%, respectively. In addition, some actively performing public chains this year, such as BNB Chain and Hyperliquid, have also achieved significant growth in stablecoins.

Ecological Financing: Polygon Wins with Star Project, Ethereum and Solana Remain Popular

In addition, there is another data dimension that is equally worth paying attention to, which is the financing situation. The cryptocurrency industry in 2025 reached a new high in financing, with PANews recording 6,710 financing cases and categorizing these financing events by the blockchain they belong to for comparison. From the data results, the number of financing cases for these public chains in 2025 saw a significant decline, dropping from 640 cases to 293 cases. However, the total amount increased from $350 million to $667 million, with the average amount of financing per case rising from $5.57 million to $22.79 million. This also indirectly shows that the difficulty of financing for small and medium-sized entrepreneurial teams in the current market may be greater, while capital is more willing to invest more funds in some star projects.

In terms of classification of public chains, Polygon leads with $2.24 billion in funding, followed by Ethereum and Solana with $1.57 billion and $1.34 billion respectively. However, the reason Polygon tops the funding list is primarily due to Polymarket's massive funding of over $2 billion. Looking closely at the number of funding events, the main funding activities still occur within the ecosystems of Ethereum, Solana, Bitcoin, and Base.

The following is an analysis of several public chains that are key points of interest in the market:

Ethereum: The light boat has passed over ten thousand mountains, the “misalignment period” of fundamental recovery and stagnant coin prices.

As the leader of public chains, Ethereum's development in 2025 can be described as “a light boat has passed through ten thousand mountains.” After experiencing a significant ecological data stagnation due to severe L2 diversion in 2024, with market prices hovering without movement, Ethereum in 2025 actually saw good growth in ecological data, especially in areas such as DEX trading volume (up 38.8%), stablecoin market capitalization (up 46%), and on-chain active addresses (up 71%). Additionally, it continued to lead most public chains in terms of ecological financing events and financing amounts. From these data indicators, the ecological development of the Ethereum mainnet experienced a revival in 2025.

However, in terms of price and TVL data, it is still stagnant due to the overall market correction. Nevertheless, compared to other public chain tokens, Ethereum's price performance shows relatively stronger resilience.

Solana: Success and failure both stem from MEME, revealing vulnerability after the bubble of prosperity bursts.

Compared to 2024, Solana presents a different state in 2025: the ecological vulnerability exposed after significant ups and downs. After the MEME market transitioned from prosperity to decline at the beginning of the year, Solana has not been able to generate more narratives; instead, various launch platforms have continued to intensify competition in the MEME coin sector. Therefore, while there has been significant growth in fee capture and DEX trading volume this year, token prices, end-of-year active users, and transaction numbers have all seen a serious decline. This also indirectly indicates that the market is voting with its feet, and Solana's bubble of prosperity seems to have burst.

BNB Chain: From defense to full-scale offense, the all-dimensional growth “hexagonal warrior”.

The BNB Chain achieved a comprehensive outbreak in 2025, with positive growth across all measured data dimensions. In particular, aspects such as fee revenue, DEX trading volume, stablecoin market cap, and on-chain activity all experienced growth of more than 100%. This is rare in the current sluggish state of the public chain market.

Of course, such achievements are closely related to Binance. From high-level executives like CZ actively participating in marketing, to the launch of Binance Alpha becoming a “required course” for many retail investors, and then to new derivatives exchanges like Aster targeting Hyperliquid. The BNB Chain's counterattack has shifted to a full-scale offensive in 2024, and this momentum is fierce. For all public chains, the BNB Chain may have already become an opponent that cannot be ignored.

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

Similar to BNB Chain, Hyperliquid is expected to shine in 2025, with all data showing positive growth except for a slight decrease in market value compared to the beginning of the year (-5.3%), and several metrics showing the largest increases among all public chains.

In 2025, Hyperliquid's TVL ranks ninth in the entire network, its fee generation amount ranks third, DEX trading volume ranks sixth, and its stable market value ranks fifth. From these rankings, Hyperliquid has become a truly mainstream public chain, and as a newcomer in this market, achieving such results is clearly quite successful. Moreover, it is one of the very few public chains in 2025 that can sustain its entire ecosystem through real income without relying on inflation incentives.

However, Hyperliquid has recently faced strong competitors catching up, with trading volumes of rivals like Aster and Lighter already approaching. Unbeknownst to them, Hyperliquid, which was a challenger just a year ago, may have to switch to a defensive position in 2026.

Sui: Unlocking the “squat” under the pressure, urgently needs to be reshaped amidst the burst of the bubble

As an emerging public chain that strongly chased Solana in 2024 and was highly anticipated by the market, Sui remained relatively quiet in 2025. Among all mainstream public chains, Sui's price decline (-64%) and TVL decline (-46.8%) reflect the pressure from the market. This is mainly attributed to Sui entering a “intensive unlocking period” in 2025. A large amount of tokens from early investors and the team entered the market, compounded by a cooling market, which led to price pressure.

At the same time, in terms of ecosystem activity, daily active user data and daily transaction counts are 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, from the perspective of growth in financing amounts and DEX trading volumes, the capital market has essentially not completely abandoned Sui, and 2026 could be a year of reconstruction after the bubble burst.

Tron: The ultimate pragmatist, the “king of cash flow” deeply rooted in the payment track.

The development trajectory of Tron in 2025 has established a different narrative style for the public chain market: riding the wave of stablecoins, it continues to “quietly make money.” Although there has been about a 50% retracement in TVL and token prices, Tron has still generated $184 million in on-chain fees (an increase of 126.9%) thanks to the stable performance of the stablecoin market, with DEX trading volume expanding by 224%. For Tron, rather than chasing hot topics to find new narratives, it is better to focus on the fundamentals of global stablecoin settlements. This pragmatic attitude has also made it a public chain with stable cash flow and strong user stickiness.

Looking back at the public chain landscape of 2025, this is not just an annual report, but a representation of the diverse development of public chains.

The red and black list of data clearly tells us: the era of “thousands of horses galloping” in the public chain track has ended, replaced by the cruel trends of “stock game” and “oligopolization.” Whether it's Solana's anxiety over traffic after the MEME wave recedes, Sui's price pain under the pressure of token unlocking, or the brutal failures of new public chains like Movement and Scroll in the secondary market, all prove that the false prosperity maintained by VC blood transfusions and point PUA is hard to sustain.

However, amidst the widespread decline, we can better see the evolution of resilience in the industry. BNB Chain, with its explosive growth across the entire ecosystem, Hyperliquid relying on extreme real returns, and Tron with its pragmatic deep cultivation in the payment sector, collectively point to the survival rules for 2026: survive not by telling stories, but by making money; not by inflating numbers, but by relying on real users.

The chill of 2025 may be biting, but it has successfully squeezed out the years of bubbles that clung to public chains. As we approach the year 2026, we have reason to believe that on this cleaner and more pragmatic foundation, public chains will no longer merely be a speculative casino, but will truly become a global financial infrastructure that carries large-scale value exchange.