Blockchain activity is cooling off — what the data really shows
New data from Nansen reveals a clear slowdown in onchain activity across 11 major L1 and L2 networks over the past year, signaling weaker market momentum.
Ronin saw the steepest decline, with active addresses dropping around 70%, mainly as interest in the game Pixels faded after its peak. Bitcoin also recorded a 7.2% decrease in active users, making it the only network in the top five showing contraction.
Many #Ethereum Layer-2s are losing traction as well. ZKsync’s transaction count fell nearly 90%, while Scroll and Arbitrum also saw notable declines. Despite this, Arbitrum remains among the most-used chains, helped by a strong app ecosystem and the rise of tokenized assets like onchain U.S. equities.
Ethereum mainnet continues to expand, with active addresses up 25% and transactions up over 20%, even amid criticism of its rollup-heavy design and liquidity fragmentation.
Solana still leads the industry in active users, while $BNB Chain’s 159% growth shows that some networks are managing to retain users beyond short-lived hype cycles.
