- Solana ecosystem dominates investor interest.
- Ethereum-based L2 protocols maintain leadership.
In 2024, Solana accounts for 49.3% of global investor interest in blockchain ecosystems, according to CoinGecko experts based on internet search data.
What are the most popular blockchain ecosystems?
Our study reveals that the Solana ecosystem has emerged as the leading blockchain ecosystem this year, capturing 49.3% of global crypto investor interest in chain-specific narratives.
Read the full study: https://t.co/QLrmE2YjXN pic.twitter.com/GF6JfUsrmX
— CoinGecko (@coingecko) March 20, 2024
Experts attribute this leadership to the rise of SOL to its highest levels since 2021, the development of ecosystem projects like Pyth, and the popularity of meme tokens such as dogwifhat.
Ethereum ranks second with 12.7%. Analysts believe its brand recognition and reputation bolster its ecosystem.
However, they observe that investor attention is increasingly shifting towards Ethereum-based second-layer networks.
BNB Chain, supported by Binance, holds the third position with 5.4%. Interest in it is largely driven by the rise of BNB, which, like SOL, has approached record levels, experts noted.
Other L1 Ecosystems Lag Behind the Leaders
Analysts believe Cosmos (4.5%) attracted attention through successful airdrops of Celestia and Dymension. Additionally, networks built on the Cosmos SDK, such as Sei and Injective, made it into the list of most popular blockchains.
The Avalanche ecosystem (3.9%) also draws interest through meme tokens like Coq Inu. However, much of the attention is linked to potential leadership in the GameFi segment, considering new partnerships, experts suggest.
Among first-layer networks, Sui (2.1%) surpasses TON (1.9%) in investor interest, despite the latter’s connection to the Telegram messenger and the buzz around Notcoin.
Other popular L1 network ecosystems include Cardano (1.3%), Polkadot (1.1%), as well as Fantom, PulseChain, and Hedera, each with around 0.5%.
Overall, 20 blockchain systems account for 97.4% of investor interest. The remaining 2.6% is distributed among 38 networks, including Near Protocol.
Ethereum Dominates the L2 Segment
Arbitrum and Base have become the most popular second-layer network ecosystems among investors, with 3.3% and 3.2% respectively. Both are built on the Ethereum blockchain.
According to CoinGecko experts, investor interest in Arbitrum is fueled by its leadership in terms of total value locked in the segment. Base is backed by the largest American crypto exchange, Coinbase.
Polygon (2%), zkSync (1.3%), and Metis (0.9%) attracted noticeably less attention. Optimism, Blast, and StarkNet also made it into the top 20.
On March 13, Ethereum developers activated the Dencun hard fork on the mainnet. As a result of implementing one of the main components of the update — EIP-4844 — fees in Ethereum-based L2 networks were reduced significantly.
Base is one project that reportedly benefited greatly from Dencun. The daily transaction volume on the blockchain surged approximately fivefold amid reduced network fees.
Earlier, due to the increase in transactions, Base faced a significant rise in fees and disruptions in on-chain operations.