Core Insights - Solana maintained its position as the most popular crypto ecosystem in 2025, capturing 26.79% of global interest in blockchain narratives despite a decline in market share and increasing competition [1] - The layer-1 network's market share fell by 12.0 percentage points from 38.79% in 2024, primarily due to challenges in expanding beyond meme-coin speculation, even as institutional adoption increased through U.S. ETF launches [2] - Base and Ethereum secured the second and third positions, with Base holding 13.94% of investor interest and Ethereum at 13.43%, reflecting a year-over-year increase for Ethereum [3][4] Market Share Dynamics - Base's market share decreased by 2.9 percentage points from 16.81% in 2024, despite significant developments such as the rebranding of Coinbase Wallet and integration with Shopify [3] - Ethereum's competitive position is under pressure from faster networks, with its scaling layer facing consolidation as Base, Arbitrum, and Optimism process nearly 90% of all L2 transactions [4] - Analysts predict that most of the 50-plus competing L2s may not survive through 2026, with smaller rollups experiencing a 61% drop in activity since June, leading to 'zombie chains' with minimal usage [5] Emerging Competitors - Sui and BNB Chain significantly increased their market presence, with Sui's market share rising by 6.9 percentage points to 11.77%, establishing itself as a credible competitor [6] - BNB Chain captured 9.05% of mindshare following a 4.9 percentage point increase, driven by the launch of Binance Alpha and strong on-chain trading volumes [7]