The crypto market is currently undergoing a significant change in how success is measured by the network. Total Value Locked (TVL) was historically used to measure success, but the crypto community is now prioritizing Monthly Active Addresses (MAA) to better represent the use of the network in actual transactions and the retail uptake of the network. Data from Phoenix Group indicates a stark contrast in active users on Layer-1 and Layer-2 protocols across the 3 main active networks by user volume.
$BNB Chain and Solana – The Retail Heavyweights
Recent metrics demonstrate $BNB Chain continues its dominance on a monthly active address basis with more than 40 million users. Much of this growth can contribute to its low cost of entry and its pervasive integration with the largest exchange platform in the world. Not to be ignored, Solana had over 23.7 million MAA and a unique daily user count of 3.2 million, which, in combination with its memecoin surge, reflects a broader trend of growth associated with DEX aggregator platforms such as Jupiter.
Ethereum continues to be the dominant, capital-intensive, institution-focused DeFi hub; however, $BNB Chain and Solana are gaining traction in the high-volume retail market with lower transaction fees and faster transaction speeds compared to Ethereum. This makes $BNB Chain and Solana much more appealing for use cases such as micro-transactions, gaming, and social applications than Ethereum.
The Rise of Parallelized and High-Throughput Chains
The strange third position for the leaderboard is the Open Network, which had 21.4 million Daily Active Users (DAU) and has continued to retain this significant growth thanks to a successful strategy focused on the “invisibility” of the technology behind the product (Chain Abstraction). After that, Tron had 14.5 million and Aptos had 11.2 million daily active users that were getting closer to NEAR and its impressive 21.4 million.
Aptos represents a new generation of Move-based blockchain and is gaining momentum. A recent report from Messari confirms that Aptos had been continuing to grow user retention through its strategic partnerships with Asian Markets as well as the rise of its gaming ecosystem. These trends indicate users are increasingly gravitating towards networks where they can obtain sub-second finality and do not have the hassle of traditional wallet management.
Layer-2s and the Ethereum Dilemma
Currently, Ethereum’s mainnet has roughly 10.3 million monthly active addresses (MAA), although many of the advancements on Ethereum take place outside of Ethereum. Base stands out as a pivotal advancement from Ethereum, currently securing a spot in the top 10 for MAA usage, boasting approximately 5 million MAAs. The way Ethereum has been developing points to a clear trend, where it keeps settling into the role of a main settlement layer while most everyday user activity steadily shifts over to its Layer-2 solutions instead.
Conclusion
The April 2026 blockchain landscape has moved beyond just building platforms, and there is tremendous competition among various platforms for user adoption. Bitcoin and Ethereum are the highest market cap blockchains, whereas $BNB Chain, Solana, and Near are leading the way in terms of daily usage.
According to the information provided by developers and investors, liquidity is inversely related to user growth. This might suggest that there is a large number of users who have left multiple blockchains for a variety of reasons; some of these reasons could be streamlined processes, easier ways to interact with applications and lower transaction fees.
