On-chain analytics firm Nansen ranked Solana, BNB Chain, Base, Tron, and NEAR Protocol as the busiest blockchains in 2025.
Solana took the lead with 23.01 billion transactions, followed by BNB Chain with 3.89 billion transactions. Coinbase’s Ethereum Layer 2 base took third place with 3.29 billion processed, followed by Tron with 3.22 billion and NEAR in fifth place with 1.89 billion.
Despite significant institutional adoption in 2025, retail-focused use cases continued to dominate transaction volumes, especially for low-fee and high-throughput blockchains.
Top 5 blockchains by activity in 2025. source: Nansen
Solana’s DEX boom and meme coin craze
Solana’s dominance comes on the back of a trading boom that propelled it to the top of the decentralized exchange (DEX) rankings in early 2025.
According to a report by CoinGecko, Solana DEX trading recorded $293.7 billion in the first quarter of 2025, dominating 40% of the industry’s market share. This was driven in part by the meme coin frenzy surrounding celebrity and political tokens like $TRUMP, a Solana-based token launched on January 18 in connection with US President Donald Trump.
According to DefiLlama data, Solana has maintained its position as the top chain in DEX trading volume throughout the year, with monthly trading volume exceeding approximately $100 billion.
Related: Solana enters 2026 with last-minute RWA momentum boost
Nansen said BNB Chain’s roughly 3.89 billion transactions coincided with the rise of the company’s meme coin scene.
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Base ranked 3rd in number of transactions in 2025 because it leveraged direct distribution from Coinbase’s user base. A 2026 outlook by Messari researcher AJC said Base’s protocol revenue will grow approximately 30 times in 2025, capturing 62% of total L2 revenue. The same study found that Base’s ecosystem extends to DEXs, AI-linked apps, and predictive platforms.
Related: Base’s Creator Coin Experiment Meets Resistance After Nick Shirley’s Launch
Tron and NEAR rank in the top 5
Tron’s 3.22 billion transactions reflect its role as the backbone of the stablecoin economy. In June 2025, TRON DAO announced that more than half of the USDt (USDT) in circulation is issued on the blockchain. Its stablecoin supply has increased by about 40% since the beginning of the year, with daily transfer volume reaching tens of billions of dollars.
The NEAR protocol rounds out the top five, with 1.89 billion transactions in 2025, according to Nansen’s ranking.
NEAR reported approximately 46 million users in May and ranked alongside Solana and Tron in the activity metric. Beyond the numbers, a key part of NEAR’s 2025 story was its role in the privacy story via Zcash (ZEC). The resurgence of Zcash (ZEC) was partially driven by Electric Coin Company’s Zashi wallet integrated with NEAR’s Intents system. This allows users to enter and exit ZEC’s shielded pool without going through a central exchange.
This integration resulted in Zcash’s shielded supply reaching record levels and a spike in NEAR intent activity, including a day when Zcash-related transaction value exceeded $17 million.
