2025 was a pivotal year for Web3 and blockchain, with estimates indicating that approximately 80% of Fortune 500 companies had adopted the technology. The significant movement towards real-world asset tokenization and the growing institutional interest, both of which are deeply rooted in blockchain technology, have played a crucial role in elevating the technology’s prominence in the public consciousness. Nonetheless, the swift embrace of digital currencies, particularly in the United States, significantly contributed to the fact that blockchain technology was not completely overshadowed by the rise of artificial intelligence. The Trump administration is often recognized for breaking down the legal and regulatory obstacles that had previously stifled crypto innovation during the Biden administration, both domestically and globally. Despite being a robust year for technology as a whole, various factors contributed to the rise of specific protocols as frontrunners in the field. The criteria for inclusion and ordering involves several factors, such as developer and user activity on the chain, mindshare, and the influence of narratives.
The Tron blockchain, similar to others in the space, has undergone continuous development, focusing on high throughput, low costs, and a decentralized content ecosystem. In 2025, the Tron blockchain has unveiled major innovations and enhancements, particularly the Delegated Proof-of-Stake Consensus. This system allows a chosen set of elected super representatives to assume the responsibility of validating transactions. This is said to greatly improve transaction speed and reduce the time needed for block confirmations. Similar to Hyperliquid, Tron has introduced the Tron Virtual Machine, a groundbreaking development that enables EVM compatibility for the blockchain. This compatibility is said to improve interoperability and encourage developer adoption. Among the significant advancements were the integration of AI, the introduction of a Bitcoin-Backed Security Integration, and the development of the BitTorrent File System. Throughout the year, Tron maintained its status as a leader in stablecoins, with its DeFi total value locked reaching $6.2 billion, briefly securing the fifth position among blockchains. In fourth place was Base, an Ethereum Layer 2 blockchain developed by Coinbase, demonstrating a remarkable transaction capacity, with peaks reaching impressive figures at times. Many experts agree that Base’s focus on low fees and quick transactions makes it a strong competitor in the market. This is evident in the millions of new users who joined in 2025, along with transaction volumes that, at one point, surpassed those of major networks. Activity is primarily centered around the decentralized finance and social sectors. In 2025, Base achieved one of its core and highly ambitious goals: expanding the network to provide a near-instant, exceptionally low-cost user experience. Throughout the year, the Base team proposed the concept of introducing a dedicated network token, while simultaneously launching the Base-Solana Bridge to facilitate the smooth transfer of assets between Base’s tokens and Solana’s tokens.
Ranked at number three, Solana is at the center, a memecoin token launching platform that captured global attention in the first half of 2025. One of the most anticipated updates on Solana this year was the Firedancer Validator Client upgrade, praised for its potential to eliminate the “single point of failure” risk. The Alpenglow Consensus Upgrade, which was introduced in early September, marks a notable improvement that has effectively decreased transaction finality to the 100–150 milliseconds range. While Solana itself had a solid year, it was quite the surge.The enjoyable element greatly lowered the threshold for creating tokens, resulting in a spike of activity on the Solana network. Simple design, quick execution, and social-media-inspired interface have boosted its popularity, generating hundreds of millions in revenue through trading fees. However, concerns that the platform’s simple token launch process was being taken advantage of by scammers and fraudsters appeared to halt Pump.fun’s progress. Despite the ongoing controversy, it appears that Solana’s native asset remained largely unaffected, continuing to align with prevailing market trends. After reaching a high of $293 in early January, SOL saw a consistent drop, and by early April, it was lingering near the $100 level as global markets responded to U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement of reciprocal tariffs. With trade war anxieties easing, the asset embarked on an upward trajectory, hitting $250 in September. Nevertheless, a liquidation cascade on October 10 stopped the rally in its tracks. In 2025, Hyperliquid, a custom Layer-1 blockchain designed for a high-performance decentralized exchange, introduced a range of revolutionary upgrades and innovations. One of the most significant developments was the launch of HyperEVM, an execution layer that works seamlessly with the Ethereum Virtual Machine. This has been acknowledged for bringing general-purpose programmability to Hyperliquid’s efficient financial system. The Hyperliquid Improvement Proposal 3 (HIP-3) update, finalized in Q4 2025, represents a crucial step forward in the pursuit of full decentralization.
The launch of the Simplified Cross-Chain Deposits feature in February 2025 greatly improved the user experience for bringing in capital. Hyperliquid states that this innovation eliminates the need for users to manually wrap or bridge assets before trading, making the process as quick and straightforward as a centralized exchange deposit, while still maintaining the on-chain transparency typical of a decentralized exchange. Adjustments to the fee structure and enhancements to tokenomics have been made, with Hyperliquid striving to maintain its competitive edge and strengthen the HYPE token. The upgrades and innovations implemented in Hyperliquid propelled it to significant breakout success and widespread popularity in 2025, solidifying its position as the leading platform for decentralized perpetuals. The rise in popularity can be linked to its incredibly fast custom Layer-1 (Hypercore) and the launch of HyperEVM, which attracted significant volume, users, and institutional interest. OAK Research indicates that by mid-2025, Hyperliquid is projected to account for 70% to 75% of the overall trading volume on decentralized perpetuals platforms. It also achieved remarkable trading volumes, with weekly averages reportedly reaching $47 billion in the first half of the year, and forecasts suggesting a total trading volume that could exceed $3.465 trillion by the end of 2025. The protocol’s popularity is further evidenced by its native token, which achieved an all-time high of $59.30 on Sept. 19, 2025. Despite a downward trend in recent times, Hyper has surged by 350% with only two weeks left before the conclusion of the year. The privacy protocol topped our list of the five best blockchains, with its native coin gaining billions of dollars in value in under 90 days. The recent surge in the privacy coin can be attributed to various factors, particularly important enhancements or new features added to the blockchain over the year.
The goal of developers with these improvements was to strengthen user privacy, enhance the user experience, and prepare for future scalability and interoperability of the network. The most recent improvement for the Zcash blockchain was implemented via Network Upgrade 6.1, fixing a long-standing issue in the Remote Procedure Call methods. The solution ensured that unshielded transactions from the Orchard shielded pool were correctly shown in wallets and block explorers, improving accuracy for users and infrastructure providers. The Zashi wallet and usability enhancements, along with the development and testnet activation for Ztarknet, were important advancements that positioned Zcash to capitalize on the growing interest in financial privacy and the zero-knowledge technology ecosystem. The halving event in November acted as a major catalyst, reinforcing Zcash’s position as the top protocol in the privacy narrative. Alongside the enhancements, Zcash gained backing from prominent privacy advocates, significantly contributing to the increase in ZEC’s value. According to sources, ZEC stayed under $50 for a considerable part of the first three quarters of 2025. At the start of Q4, there was a rally that, at its peak, brought year-to-date gains close to 1,500%. Despite a subsequent reduction in its gains, ZEC remained up by over 600% as of Dec. 13, making it one of the standout performers in 2025. The coins of other privacy-focused blockchains saw significant growth throughout the year; however, it is ZEC that seems to have drawn the interest of both investors and privacy advocates. The coin’s performance can be linked to a renewed focus on privacy, underscoring its importance in a time when surveillance methods are becoming more advanced and efficient.