Abstract

• Escalating Public Chain Competition: In 2025, blockchain infrastructure has shifted to a game of market share. A new wave of public chains—such as high-performance Sonic, model-driven Berachain, L2s like Abstract and Unichain, and DeFi-focused Sei and Hyperliquid—is reshaping the next phase of inter-chain competition.

• Sonic’s Rapid Growth and Incentive Effectiveness: Driven by its dual engines of performance and incentives, Sonic saw its TVL surge nearly 40-fold within three months of mainnet launch, surpassing $1 billion. Its on-chain “GDP” reached $1.47 million.

• Berachain’s PoL Innovation and Liquidity Engine: Berachain leverages a unique Proof-of-Liquidity (PoL) consensus and three-token model ($BERA, $BGT, $HONEY) to bind governance with liquidity. As of May 20, 2025, its TVL reached $1.189 billion.
• Abstract’s Consumer-Grade L2 Strategy: Positioned as a consumer-grade Ethereum Layer 2, Abstract reduces user friction through chain abstraction. As of May 22, 2025, its DeFi TVL exceeded $27 million, with tool-based protocol Reservoir Tools contributing $14.87 million, indicating early traction from tools and speculative activity.
• Sui’s Performance and Security Concerns: Sui adopts the Move language and parallel execution architecture to achieve high performance. but a $260M hack on its top DEX, Cetus, on May 22, 2025, caused TVL to plunge from $2.1B to $1.54B—raising serious concerns about security in the Move ecosystem.
• Hyperliquid’s On-Chain Futures Growth and Profitability: As a perpetual contract trading protocol on a self-developed L1, Hyperliquid has reached a TVL of $1.309 billion with daily trading volume exceeding $11.5 billion, securing its leadership in the on-chain derivatives space.

• Unichain’s Uniswap-Driven Growth and Liquidity Incentives: Launched by Uniswap Labs as a DeFi-optimized L2, Unichain saw its TVL jump from $9 million to $267 million after launching a $5 million incentive program. As of May 23, 2025, Unichain’s TVL reached approximately $530 million, with $437.44 million contributed by Uniswap.
• Sei Network’s DeFi Optimization and Data Performance: Focused on DeFi and high-frequency trading, Sei Network employs an on-chain central limit order book (CLOB). As of May 25, 2025, its TVL stood at $487 million, with over 300,000 daily active addresses.

Disclaimer
Investing in the cryptocurrency market involves high risk. Users are advised to conduct independent research and fully understand the nature of the assets and products before making any investment decisions. Gate is not responsible for any losses or damages arising from such investment decisions.