Solana Dominates Blockchain Usage in 2025 – Ethereum Struggles with Identity Crisis

Solana Leads with Massive Margin

The year 2025 reveals a surprising ranking in actual blockchain usage: Solana dominates the field with 23.01 billion transactions, leaving all competitors far behind ^[2]. BNB Chain follows in second place with 3.89 billion transactions, while Ethereum Layer-2 solution Base takes third place with 3.29 billion ^[2].

Tron and NEAR Protocol round out the top 5 with 3.22 billion and 1.89 billion transactions respectively ^[2]. Notably absent: Neither Bitcoin nor Ethereum itself appear among the most-used blockchains of the year.

Memecoins and Stablecoins Drive Usage

Despite increasing institutional adoption, transaction volume continues to be dominated by retail applications, particularly on blockchains with low fees and high throughput ^[2]. Solana's success is largely based on the memecoin boom surrounding tokens like $TRUMP and $LIBRA ^[2].

Base, meanwhile, benefited from exchange Coinbase's customer base and saw explosive growth: protocol revenue increased 30-fold and accounted for 62 percent of total Layer-2 revenue ^[2].

Tron's position is explained by its role as the preferred platform for Tether's leading stablecoin USDT. More than half of all USDT in circulation was issued on founder Justin Sun's blockchain ^[2]. NEAR Protocol reported approximately 46 million users in May and played an important role in the privacy debate in 2025 through the integration of the Zashi wallet into its intents system ^[2].

Buterin's Uncomfortable Warning

In this context, Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin published a New Year's message that reads like a reckoning with current developments. He reminded the community that Ethereum was originally conceived as a "world computer" – an infrastructure for a free, open internet with applications that function without censorship, fraud, or central intervention ^[1].

The "Walkaway Test" as a Benchmark

Particularly interesting is Buterin's concept of the "walkaway test": An application is only truly decentralized if it continues to run even if the original developers disappear ^[1]. No emergency keys, no maintenance breaks, no Discord announcements. "If you walk away and everything breaks down, then it was never decentralized. Then it was just a startup with blockchain branding," goes the argument ^[1].

Ethereum should, according to Buterin's vision, serve as base infrastructure for things that no one can simply shut down – due to politics, insolvency, ideology, or whim ^[1]. This is "not a bull case," but rather "a values statement" ^[1].

Technical Progress Meets Stagnant Prices

The warning comes at a time when Ethereum is technically well-positioned: Pectra, Fusaka, improved scaling, better wallet usability, cheaper fees, and a clear rollup focus ^[1]. Yet the price has been languishing for months ^[1].

Buterin poses a fundamental question: While the market asks "Why isn't Ethereum pumping?", the real question should be "What exactly are we building here?" ^[1]. The industry has learned to trade narratives and interpret cycles, but has forgotten how to build products that people simply use – without explanation, without hoping for airdrops ^[1].

Current usage numbers seem to confirm Buterin's concern: Ethereum was supposed to be a world computer, but most people just wanted "a slot machine" ^[1].