In a landmark year for blockchain adoption, the Solana network solidified its position as the industry's most active platform, processing over 121 billion transactions throughout 2025. This figure, reported by on-chain analytics firm Nansen, placed Solana far ahead of its closest competitors, with BNB Chain following at 3.89 billion transactions, Coinbase's Ethereum Layer-2 network Base at 3.29 billion, Tron at 3.22 billion, and NEAR Protocol at 1.89 billion.
Solana's dominance was driven by a combination of its high-throughput architecture, low fees, and a surge in retail-focused use cases. A significant portion of this activity stemmed from a decentralized exchange (DEX) trading boom and a memecoin frenzy. According to CoinGecko, Solana DEXs captured 40% of the industry's market share in Q1 2025, recording $293.7 billion in volume, with monthly volumes often exceeding $100 billion throughout the year. Celebrity and political tokens, such as the Solana-based $TRUMP token, fueled this activity.
The growth of other top chains was also notable. BNB Chain's transaction count coincided with the rise of its own memecoin ecosystem. Base leveraged direct distribution from Coinbase's massive user base, with Messari research noting its protocol revenue grew approximately 30 times in 2025. Tron's high volume was attributed to its role as a backbone for the stablecoin economy, hosting over half of all circulating Tether (USDT). NEAR Protocol's inclusion in the top five was bolstered by its integration with Zcash's privacy-focused Zashi wallet, which drove significant shielded transaction volume.
This performance underscores Solana's emergence as a major Layer 1 competitor, challenging Ethereum's dominance in raw usage metrics and highlighting the ongoing importance of scalability and low-cost transactions for mass adoption.
