The crypto world has seen a surge in user numbers, especially after Telegram’s mini-games went viral. Projects that once celebrated millions of users now seem small compared to games attracting tens of millions—or even hundreds of millions—of participants. But amid this user boom, one critical question often gets overlooked: What is the real value of these users?
Ethereum maintains around 400,000 to 500,000 daily active users, yet it remains the second-largest blockchain by market cap. Meanwhile, TON consistently surpasses 2 million daily active users but ranks only around 10th. Is this a market misjudgment, or do these blockchains truly differ in user quality? This article dives into blockchain user value, analyzing key metrics to uncover meaningful insights.
Core Keywords
- Blockchain user value
- Ethereum whale activity
- TON network analysis
- Solana transaction trends
- Arbitrum user behavior
- Sui vs Solana performance
- Base chain insights
Methodology: Measuring Real User Value
To assess user value across major blockchains like Solana, Ethereum, TON, Sui, Base, and BSC, we analyzed selected tokens on each chain. Since no standard metric exists for measuring user value, we calculated the average holding value per address by dividing token market cap by the number of unique holders.
To improve accuracy, we excluded exchange wallets, team allocations, and locked staking addresses—common sources of skewed averages. While average values don’t represent most users (due to wealth concentration), they offer useful comparative insights.
Additionally, we examined average transaction size, derived from daily trading volume divided by transaction count. This helps reflect the economic weight behind user activity.
Ethereum: The Whale’s Preferred Playground
Ethereum continues to lead in high-value user engagement. By analyzing major tokens such as USDT, USDC, SHIB, UNI, and PEPE—after filtering out institutional and exchange addresses—we found the average holding value per address is approximately $3,516.
This figure is roughly six times higher than Solana’s and significantly exceeds most other chains. Considering Ethereum’s market cap is about five times Solana’s, this suggests Solana might be overvalued relative to user quality.
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Furthermore, Ethereum’s average transaction size reaches $1,160, the highest among all analyzed networks. This reinforces Ethereum’s status as the go-to platform for large-scale transactions and institutional-grade DeFi activity.
The data also shows a preference for stablecoins and yield-generating assets over meme coins, indicating a mature, investment-focused user base.
Solana: High Volume, Low Value – Meme Coins Dominate
Solana stands out as a high-performance blockchain with massive user engagement. However, detailed analysis reveals a different story about user value.
Due to limited public data on SOL’s holder count, we used representative tokens like JUP, USDC, USDT, BOME, and Bonk. Before filtering large wallets, average holdings appeared strong—around $2,240 per address. But after removing exchanges and lockups, the **real average drops to $635**.
Even more telling is the transaction data. On October 8, Solana processed nearly 250 million transactions with a total volume of $1.15 billion—resulting in an **average transaction size of just $17.40**.
This low value aligns with widespread meme coin trading and speculative “pump-and-dump” behavior. Data from Hello Moon shows over 86 million wallets held zero SOL at the time, and only about 1.5 million held more than 10 SOL.
While Solana excels in scalability and speed, its ecosystem remains driven by retail speculation rather than long-term asset accumulation.
Arbitrum: Ethereum’s Most Faithful L2 Successor
As Ethereum’s leading Layer 2 solution, Arbitrum inherits much of its parent chain’s high-value user base.
After excluding large institutional addresses, the average holding value per address on Arbitrum is $487, second only to Ethereum and pre-filtering Solana figures. Notably, many top tokens on Arbitrum—like USDC—are heavily concentrated in platforms like Hyperliquid, suggesting strong institutional presence.
Token distribution mirrors Ethereum’s: dominated by stablecoins and ETH/BTC-wrapped assets. This reflects a DeFi-oriented ecosystem where users prioritize yield farming and liquidity provision.
Arbitrum’s average transaction size is $282, trailing only Ethereum. This confirms that Arbitrum isn’t just scaling throughput—it’s scaling meaningful financial activity.
Sui: Emerging Challenger to Solana?
Sui has gained attention as a potential rival to Solana, especially in performance and gaming use cases.
We analyzed high-market-cap tokens including SUI, wUSDC, USDT, CETUS, and SCA. Due to lower centralization, fewer addresses needed exclusion. The resulting average holding value per address is $271, higher than TON and Base but still far below Ethereum.
Transaction data presents a mixed picture. On October 8, average transaction size was only $1.80, likely due to a spike in bot-generated or spam transactions exceeding 100 million in a single day.
However, using October 3 data—before the anomaly—the average rises to $11.47, closer to Solana’s level and suggesting normal activity leans toward micro-transactions in gaming and social apps.
Sui may be building momentum, but it hasn’t yet attracted high-net-worth participants at scale.
BSC: Mid-Tier Holdings With High Transaction Value
Binance Smart Chain (BSC) shows moderate average holdings but surprisingly strong transaction metrics.
Analyzing tokens like BETH, BSC-USD, WBNB, USDC, and DOGE, we found the average address balance at $167 post-exclusion—lower than Ethereum or Arbitrum but comparable to Sui.
Yet BSC shines in transaction size: an average of $237 per transaction, second only to Ethereum. This suggests that while individual wallets hold less, actual economic activity involves substantial capital movement—possibly linked to yield farms, cross-chain bridges, or centralized exchange operations.
BSC’s user profile resembles Ethereum’s more than Solana’s: focused on utility and investment rather than pure speculation.
TON: High Activity, Low Value – Where Are the Whales?
Despite massive popularity driven by games like Notcoin, Hamster Kombat, and DOGS, TON struggles to convert attention into financial depth.
Analysis of DOGS, NOT, TON, USDT, HMSTR, and CATI reveals an average holding value of just $106 per address**—the lowest among studied chains. Average transaction size is **$3.38, indicating mostly small-scale interactions.
A revealing moment came when Scam Sniffer shared a screenshot of a hacker shutting down their TON-based malware operation—citing lack of “crypto whales” as unsustainable for their business model.
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This highlights a core issue: TON has successfully attracted millions of users through gamification and airdrop farming (“lurking”), but few bring meaningful capital. The ecosystem remains “loud but not rich.”
Base: Institutional Money Dominates
Base, Coinbase’s Layer 2 network, shows extreme centralization in fund distribution.
Before filtering large wallets, average holdings appear high—around $663. But after removing exchange-controlled addresses, the **real average drops to $96 per address**.
This stark difference reveals that most capital on Base resides within institutional or exchange-controlled accounts. Retail participation exists but involves relatively small amounts.
Despite low individual holdings, Base maintains a healthy average transaction size of $138, suggesting that real economic value still flows through the network—even if not widely distributed.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Q: Why does Ethereum have higher user value than other blockchains?
A: Ethereum attracts long-term investors and institutions due to its mature DeFi ecosystem, security track record, and dominance in asset issuance and yield strategies.
Q: Does high user count always mean high blockchain value?
A: Not necessarily. As seen with TON and Solana, high user numbers can stem from speculative or gaming activity that doesn’t translate into significant capital deployment.
Q: What makes a blockchain attractive to “whales”?
A: Security, liquidity, yield opportunities, and proven use cases (like DeFi or institutional staking) are key factors that draw high-net-worth users.
Q: Can Sui or TON evolve into high-value ecosystems?
A: Potentially. If they shift focus from user acquisition via airdrops to fostering real utility and financial services, they could gradually increase average user value.
Q: How reliable is average holding value as a metric?
A: It's directional rather than definitive. While skewed by outliers, it helps compare relative trends across chains when large wallets are filtered out.
Final Thoughts: Quality Over Quantity
User quantity no longer tells the full story. The real differentiator lies in user quality—measured by capital depth, transaction size, and economic behavior.
Ethereum and its L2s like Arbitrum continue to dominate in high-value usage. Solana and Sui excel in volume but lag in financial substance. TON draws crowds through gaming but lacks whales. Base channels institutional flows despite limited retail wealth.
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As Web3 evolves, projects that convert engagement into meaningful economic participation will ultimately prevail. For now, value still follows capital—and capital follows trust.