2024 Public Chain Industry Report: From Technology Competition to Practical Application

2024 marks an important watershed for the public chain industry, with the industry's focus shifting from technology competition to practical application.

2024 marks a key turning point for the public chain industry, shifting the industry focus from technology competition to practical application. In this year, the market value of public chains increased by 105.3% to reach $2.8 trillion, the price of Bitcoin exceeded $100,000, and institutional adoption was achieved through ETFs, the Ethereum Layer 2 network expanded to more than 200 chains, and the Bitcoin Layer 2 TVL increased by 1,277.6%, all indicating the industry's transition from technical experiments to practical real-world applications. The public chain industry is gradually shifting from technology-driven development to application demand-driven development.

Note: Unless otherwise stated, all data in this report is as of December 20, 2024.

Market Dynamics: Growth and Transformation

In 2024, the public chain industry achieved unprecedented growth, and multiple key indicators showed significant expansion.

The total market value of public chains increased by 105.3% to $2.8 trillion. Bitcoin dominance rose to 69.8%, while Ethereum's share fell from 20.4% to 15.2%. BNB Chain and Solana's shares remained stable at 3.5% and 3.3%, and other platforms accounted for 8.1%.

The DeFi sector also showed strong growth momentum in 2024, with the total locked value (TVL) reaching US$102.8 billion at the end of the year, an increase of 88.6% year-on-year. Among the top 10 public chains in terms of TVL, Bitcoin and TON had the most significant growth, both exceeding 2,000%. Aptos, Sui and Solana also performed well, increasing by 754.4%, 677.1% and 321.3% respectively. However, the TVL of Tron and Avalanche both declined.

The Ethereum Layer 2 ecosystem experienced significant centralization in 2024. Arbitrum maintained its leading position with a TVL of $10.6 billion and a market share of 41.1%, down from 50.8% in 2023. Base became the dark horse of the year, jumping to second place with $5.8 billion TVL (22.5% share), while Optimism ranked third with $4 billion TVL (15.8%). Together, these three platforms accounted for 79.1% of Ethereum L2 DeFi TVL, while previous competitors such as Blast, zkSync, and Starknet all saw their market share decline.

At the same time, the scale of the ecosystem continues to expand. Currently, there are 50 Rollups and 70 Validium & Optimium running on the mainnet, plus about 90 chains that are about to be launched, the total number of Ethereum L2 exceeds 200.

Bitcoin Layer 2 and sidechain ecosystems have experienced explosive growth, with total locked value reaching $2.6 billion, a significant increase of 1,277.6% from 2023. Core leads with $790 million TVL (30.3% market share), followed by Bitlayer ($500 million, 19.4% share) and BSquared ($330 million, 12.7% share). This growth is not only reflected in TVL, the number of active chains has more than doubled throughout the year, with nearly 20 chains now.

Competitive Landscape: Leaders and Challengers

In 2024, the competitive landscape of the public chain ecosystem has changed significantly, mainly manifested in the increased dominance of Bitcoin, the recovery of Solana, and the rise of emerging challengers.

Bitcoin: From Store of Value to Financial Infrastructure

Bitcoin has seen exceptional growth in 2024, with a 129.2% price increase and a 131.7% market cap increase. This growth was driven by institutional adoption of spot ETFs, the April halving event, and positive post-election sentiment in the US. In addition to breaking the $100,000 price milestone, there were two key developments in the Bitcoin ecosystem:

Institutional adoption increased : The successful launch of spot ETFs in January completely changed the institutional access landscape, with BlackRock's product quickly reaching $20 billion. Bitcoin surpassed silver and Saudi Aramco to become the world's seventh largest asset, marking a shift from a speculative asset to a recognized store of value.

BTCfi rises : The Bitcoin ecosystem has expanded beyond price growth through innovative financial products. Babylon’s Bitcoin staking project, Solv Protocol’s cross-chain solution, and Core’s Fusion