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Focusing on EVM chains, Flipside's Onchain User Report tracks record growth and emerging challenges in maintaining staking quality. Here are some trends to watch in 2025.
Record user growth
The number of newly acquired users reached a record 19.4 million in October, with Base contributing 13.7 million — “nearly 8 times as much as runner-up, Polygon,” the report notes. This massive growth is attributed to Coinbase Wide user base Base's focus is on “popular sectors such as com. memecoin Trading and Onchain Artificial Intelligence Through new initiatives such as authorized agents
An “acquired user” is defined as a user who has made at least two transactions in 2024.
Ethereum has also seen consistent growth in users, averaging 1.56 million new users per month. resolution It peaked in May with 3.3 million acquired users, fueled by GameFi and SocialFi.
However, Bitcoin usage has remained relatively stable despite BTC reaching a historical level $100,000 is a milestone. This reflects a reflective activity rather than a meaningful rehabilitation process.
Power users: Base and polygon dominate
Flipside terms “power users” as those who have executed 100 or more on-chain transactions, at any given time.
a base The company led the way here with 15.1 million wallets executing more than 100 transactions, 38% more than Ethereum's 10.7 million premium users. Meanwhile, ribbed It recorded 1.5 million new premium users in 2024, underscoring its strength outside of DeFi. “Polygon’s premium user activity also exceeded that of every other chain observed, with 867.7 million monthly premium user transactions,” according to the report.
Ethereum has maintained its position as a DeFi hub with 10.9 million unique DeFi-related users, more than Arbitrum and optimism total.
Explosive rise and sharp decline
Among the newly launched series are: explosion It made headlines with a record single-month peak of 134.9K acquired users in June. The motivation for this was its ability to stimulate "a wide range of fun activities on the series."
However, the chain saw a significant decline in users in the fourth quarter. Despite the apparent exodus of point farmers from the chain, the report highlights the positive potential of Blast: “Remaining users remain active on multiple fronts, suggesting that the chain has the potential to outlast and exceed the initial hype.”
Uniswap's dominance in DeFi
com.uniswap It has consolidated its dominance, capturing 91.3% of DEX activity on Base and increasing its stake on Ethereum by 27.72% compared to 2023. This points to a broader trend, which is that the DeFi market is “winner take most” (which) disproportionately favors larger companies . “Players with deeper fluidity and brand familiarity,” the authors said.
Meanwhile, LFJ (née Trader Joe's) retained its lead Avalancheincreasing its market share by just over 6% as of 2023, thanks to innovations such as Auto-Pools.
Challenge
While 2024 saw record user acquisition, Flipside emphasizes the need for high-quality engagement. As the report notes: “Behind the headlines of record user growth lies a deeper challenge: building ecosystems capable of creating meaningful and lasting engagement, not just fleeting speculation.”
For example, although Base attracts huge numbers of users, the report highlights the “narrow range of onchain actions that the new user base is currently engaging in,” such as simply gambling on a memecoin or two. It is not clear whether applications can execute when given the opportunity to redirect users towards deeper activities such as DeFi.
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