According to Nansen, the top five busiest blockchains in 2025 were Solana, BNB Chain, Base, Tron, and NEAR Protocol.
Solana led with 23.01 billion transactions, followed by BNB Chain with 3.89 billion. Base, Coinbase’s Ethereum layer-2, handled 3.29 billion transactions, Tron had 3.22 billion, and NEAR Protocol came in fifth with 1.89 billion.
Despite institutional adoption in 2025, retail-focused use cases continued to dominate transaction volumes, especially on blockchains with low fees and high throughput.
Top five blockchains by activity in 2025. Source: Nansen
Solana’s DEX Boom and Memecoin Craze
Solana’s dominance was fueled by a trading boom that propelled it to the top of decentralized exchange (DEX) rankings early in 2025.
CoinGecko reported that Solana DEX trading captured 40% of the market share by recording $293.7 billion in the first quarter of 2025. This surge was partly driven by a memecoin frenzy surrounding tokens like $TRUMP, a Solana-based token linked to US President Donald Trump.
DefiLlama data indicated that Solana consistently ranked among the top chains by DEX volume throughout the year, with monthly volumes reaching or surpassing $100 billion.
Related: Solana enters 2026 with last-minute boost in RWA momentum
BNB Chain, with approximately 3.89 billion transactions, coincided with the emergence of its own memecoin ecosystem.
BSC leads blockchain networks | Source: Cointelegraph
Base ranked third in transaction count for 2025, leveraging direct distribution from Coinbase’s user base. Research by Messari’s AJC projected a 30-fold growth in Base’s protocol revenue in 2025, capturing 62% of total L2 revenue. The ecosystem expanded to include DEXs, AI-linked apps, and prediction platforms.
Related: Base’s creator coin experiment meets resistance after Nick Shirley launch
Tron and NEAR Complete the Top 5
Tron processed 3.22 billion transactions, emphasizing its role in the stablecoin economy. In June 2025, TRON DAO announced that over half of the circulating USDt (USDT) was issued on its blockchain. The stablecoin supply grew by 40% year-to-date with daily transfer volumes in the tens of billions of dollars.
NEAR Protocol rounded out the top five with 1.89 billion transactions in 2025, as per Nansen’s ranking.
In May, NEAR reported around 46 million users, placing it alongside Solana and Tron in terms of activity metrics. Beyond numbers, NEAR played a significant role in the privacy narrative through Zcash (ZEC). The Electric Coin Company’s Zashi wallet integration with NEAR’s Intents system allowed seamless movement in and out of ZEC’s shielded pool without relying on centralized exchanges.
This integration led to a surge in Zcash’s shielded supply and heightened activity on NEAR Intents, including a day with over $17 million in Zcash-related volume.
