Solana has emerged as the leading blockchain for annual revenues in 2025, generating $1.3 billion, according to CryptoRank data. The network's success is attributed to its role in hosting several of the year's most prominent trends, including a highly active meme season, AI agent creation, and DeFi activity in the latter part of the year. For more than seven months, Solana also led other chains in terms of application revenues, reflecting substantial real-world usage.
Hyperliquid's native chain secured the second position with $816 million in revenues, validating its specialized model as a perpetual futures decentralized exchange (DEX). The platform drew in $3.87 billion in deposits and attracted over 609,000 new users. Its native HyperCore chain achieved over $908 million in annual revenues, with $848 million coming specifically from perpetual futures trading activity.
The rankings reveal a significant shift in the blockchain landscape. Legacy networks were largely displaced, with apps migrating to a new set of chains. Ethereum, with $524 million in yearly revenues, and BNB Chain, with $257 million, fell to positions 4 and 5, respectively. Base, often associated with low-cost apps, ranked seventh with $76.4 million in annual revenues.
Analysts note that 2025 marked a watershed where platform usage shifted from novelty and hype to established products, leading to more predictable revenues. Solana's economic activity even surpassed Ethereum's at times during the year in terms of users, transactions, and apps, though Ethereum still holds more value and settles larger sums due to its deeper DeFi liquidity. The data indicates that chains optimized for execution and throughput, like Solana and Hyperliquid, are now capturing on-chain value more efficiently than those relying primarily on large liquidity pools.
