Natural selection: How blockchain market has evolved

​At the dawn of the cryptocurrency era, there was only one blockchain — the Bitcoin network. But today, there are dozens of “digital chains” that are constantly evolving and fiercely competing with each other. So which blockchains are trending today, and which ones have lost their relevance?

Recently, Tether — the issuer of the largest stablecoin, USDT — made a major announcement. Starting September 1, it will cease support for five blockchains at once: Algorand, Bitcoin Cash SLP, EOS, Kusama, and Omni Layer.

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According to Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino, these networks are now outdated. While they were once popular and played a key role in the spread of USDT, today there is virtually no demand for them.

“Ending support for these obsolete blockchains will allow us to focus on platforms that offer greater scalability, developer engagement, and community involvement — all key components for driving the next wave of stablecoin adoption,” he emphasized.

Tether had already stopped issuing stablecoins on these networks a few years ago, giving users time to withdraw their assets. Now, the company plans to shift its focus to second-layer solutions like the Lightning Network and other emerging blockchains.

The history of blockchains

Tether’s decision is logical and expected — given a choice, it's better to focus on modern and active platforms. But that choice hasn’t always existed. Just 20 years ago, blockchains didn’t exist at all.

The very first blockchain was introduced only in 2008 — and only on paper — when the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto published the Bitcoin white paper. He described a decentralized system of digital money in which transactions are grouped into blocks linked by cryptography. This structure became known as a “blockchain.” The launch of the Bitcoin network in January 2009 marked the first real-world implementation of blockchain technology.

Until 2015, Bitcoin had no real competition — until Ethereum came along. Unlike Bitcoin, Vitalik Buterin’s project not only stored transactions but also allowed developers to run smart contracts — self-executing programs on the blockchain. This expanded the technology’s use beyond digital money and gave rise to an entire ecosystem of decentralized applications (dApps). Ethereum is considered the “second generation” of blockchain, paving the way for DeFi, NFTs, and other new forms of digital interaction.

As time went on, the technology gained popularity, and new blockchains like Cardano, Polkadot, Solana, Avalanche, and others began to emerge. Their creators sought to address issues such as scalability, transaction speed, and high fees — challenges that plagued earlier generations. Each of these new projects introduced unique innovations, from parallel block processing to more efficient consensus mechanisms and greater energy efficiency.

The most popular blockchains

Today, the most popular blockchains by TVL (Total Value Locked) are Ethereum, Tron, and Solana. Let’s take a closer look at each of them.

Blockchain ranking by TVL. Source: CoinMarketCap

Ethereum’s dominance stems largely from its status as a veteran. Its early mover advantage earned the trust of major projects like Uniswap, Aave, Lido, MakerDAO, and many others. On top of that, Ethereum continues to evolve: the transition to Proof-of-Stake, the development of sharding, and Layer 2 scaling solutions like Arbitrum and Optimism are making the network more efficient and scalable.

Tron owes much of its popularity to the USDT stablecoin. Billions of dollars’ worth of USDT transactions are processed daily on its network. Thanks to low fees and high throughput, Tron has become a preferred blockchain for transferring and storing USDT, especially in developing countries and centralized exchanges.

Solana rose into the top three thanks to the memecoin hype of 2024–2025. With high-speed performance and near-zero fees, Solana proved to be an ideal platform for trading low-liquidity tokens, including speculative memecoins like WIF, BONK, and others.

Rounding out the top five are Binance Smart Chain — a blockchain closely tied to Binance’s ecosystem — and Arbitrum, a successful Layer 2 solution for scaling Ethereum.

Interestingly, Bitcoin is not in the top 5 blockchains by TVL. That’s because its network was never designed for complex decentralized applications or smart contracts. Bitcoin is primarily focused on storing and transferring value, not on supporting DeFi protocols.

Who fell behind

Although the blockchain space seems vibrant and competitive today, there have been several major projects that failed to stand the test of time. One such case is EOS, which held a record-breaking ICO in 2018, raising over $4 billion. But after the network launched, it struggled with governance issues, centralization concerns, and a lack of real-world use cases. As a result, interest from developers and investors faded. In 2024, EOS even made it onto Forbes’ list of "zombie projects."

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Another example is NEO, once called “the Chinese Ethereum.” It gained traction during the early smart contract boom in Asia, but after regulatory crackdowns in China — combined with the rise of more flexible and modern blockchains like Solana and Avalanche — NEO lost relevance. Similar fates befell Lisk and Qtum — projects with technical ambition, but lacking the ecosystem and community support needed to thrive.

Conclusion instead

The blockchain world has evolved from a single experimental network to dozens of high-tech platforms, each vying for a role in the digital economy of the future. Some blockchains, like Ethereum, have maintained their lead thanks to continuous innovation and strong communities. Others, like Tron and Solana, found their niche through stablecoins and memecoins.

At the same time, the market shows no mercy to stagnation or weakness. Projects like EOS, NEO, and Lisk proved that even billions in funding and flashy promises won’t save a blockchain without real adoption and strategic growth. The industry lives by the rules of natural selection: not the loudest, but the most useful platforms survive. Where innovation once was enough, now long-term trust, utility, and resilience come first.