2025 Annual Review Special: OKX's Public Chain Friends

In 2025, public chains may no longer be the sexy track for grand narratives, because what users truly care about is no longer just throughput, the size of financing rounds, or how impressive the backing VC lineup is. Instead, the focus has shifted to whether there is genuine user growth, whether there is real on-chain capital that can withstand scrutiny, and whether there are developers who will stay for the long term and applications that can break out of the niche. This year, some public chains have completed the transition from being "discussed" to being "used." Some have chosen to slow down to refine their underlying capabilities, while others have validated their long-term paths amidst market fluctuations.

"OKX's Public Chain Friends in 2025" is not a retrospective of grand narratives. Instead, it invites those on the front lines to clearly articulate what was truly accomplished this year, which judgments were proven correct, and which areas still need further refinement—because these are the core questions that matter most to the community and users. In 2025, OKX's collaborations with multiple public chains have moved beyond one-off integrations or events, focusing instead on the continuous optimization of liquidity, developer tools, and on-chain asset utilization efficiency. This special feature invites core founders from public chain ecosystems collaborating with OKX to share their genuine experiences during the partnership: which initiatives truly propelled ecosystem growth? Which issues still require improvement? It also looks ahead to how both parties can translate short-term collaboration experience into long-term value.

Optimism Holds 46.6% of Total TVL Across Ethereum L2s, Stablecoin Scale Exceeds $6.1 Billion

Jing Wang, Co-founder and CEO of Optimism, stated that enterprise blockchain adoption saw a significant increase in 2025, with Optimism becoming a core infrastructure provider for numerous enterprises migrating large-scale settlements, consumer applications, and institutional systems on-chain. Over the past year, the Optimism ecosystem supported 14.1% of daily cryptocurrency transactions (compared to 6.3% in 2024), and now accounts for 62.1% of all Ethereum Layer 2 activity via the Superchain (previously 39.8%). Furthermore, the network processes approximately 24.1 million transactions daily while reducing median fees by 99%, bringing costs for the vast majority of users nearly to zero.

These performance improvements have unlocked new economic activities for partners, including consumer-grade applications like Base, supporting millions of micro-transactions and exchange-driven capital flows previously unfeasible due to high costs. Concurrently, liquidity has strengthened in parallel, with Optimism holding 46.6% of the total value locked (TVL) across all Ethereum Layer 2s, and the stablecoin scale across the entire ecosystem reaching $6.1 billion.

Overall, enterprises increasingly view Optimism's shared, production-ready mature infrastructure as a reliable cornerstone for scaling real-world on-chain applications.

OKX's migration of XLayer to the OP Stack in 2025 is one of the most significant developments for Optimism in the enterprise domain. OKX validated what many operators are realizing: scalable open-source infrastructure is becoming crucial for running large-scale financial systems on-chain. This move reflects a broader trend: viewing Layer 2 networks as core operational infrastructure.

Collaborating with the OKX team demonstrates that exchanges and infrastructure providers can align around shared standards, predictable scalability, and long-term ecosystem growth. Looking ahead, we see significant opportunities to unlock additional value with OKX through deeper synergy with the broader OP Stack ecosystem, whether through shared liquidity channels, a more unified developer environment, or exploring future opportunities within the Superchain framework.

Base Fees Below 1 Cent, On-Chain Assets Exceed $13 Billion

Jesse Pollak, Founder of the Base chain, stated that just two years after its launch, it has achieved a processing capacity of 150 million gas per second (150 mgas/s), block confirmation times of 200 milliseconds, fees below 1 cent, and provides a home for over $13 billion in assets. Jesse is deeply proud of the progress made by Base applications. By integrating social, trading, payment, and application functionalities into one, it has redefined how the world accesses the chain. Since its beta release, over a million users have joined. Leveraging this application, Base is developing and releasing various tools to enable creators to earn revenue.

OKX understands the Base vision. Their support through the OKX Wallet and DEX has played a huge role in bringing Base to a global audience. By directly integrating Base assets into the wallet and providing deep liquidity support on the DEX for communities like Zora, Virtuals, and Clanker, they have built the stage developers deserve. We appreciate their support in bringing the on-chain future to tens of millions of users worldwide. 2026 will be even more exciting.

Unichain Daily Trading Volume Exceeds $750 Million

The Uniswap Labs team shared with us several key milestones achieved in 2025. Unichain officially launched in April 2025. Since its launch, its Total Value Locked (TVL) once surpassed $900 million, and it achieved an average daily DEX trading volume exceeding $750 million during the summer of this year.

Based on average daily DEX trading volume, Unichain has now stably entered the top tier of Layer 2 networks. Despite being live for only about 9 months, it has successfully established itself as a leader among mainstream Layer 2 networks this year and is poised for further growth next year.

In terms of collaboration, OKX has integrated the Uniswap Trading API into the "Swap" feature of the OKX Wallet. This API enables OKX users to swap assets across 7 blockchains, using either the Uniswap classic router (covering v2, v3, and v4 liquidity) or the UniswapX router, which aggregates liquidity from multiple sources via an RFQ (Request for Quote) mechanism. In terms of annual performance, over 70,000 transactions have been completed year-to-date, with a total trading volume exceeding $250 million and an average swap size of over $3,500 per transaction.

Aptos Launches Industry-Redefining Products Like Shelby

Avery Ching, Co-founder and CEO of Aptos Labs, stated that 2025 was a year of reset for Aptos, an opportunity to review past lessons, rebuild with purpose, and lay a solid foundation for a global transaction engine that will be a core driver of the next phase of open and fair finance. This engine will span market cycles, launching industry-redefining products like Shelby, Decibel, and Namespaces.

We are deeply encouraged by the positive feedback from investors, partners, and the community, and collaborations with like-minded partners like OKX—whose global reach and mission alignment inject strong momentum into the ecosystem—have been particularly crucial. Aptos is committed to working together to expand the reach of digital finance, accelerate its adoption, and make it part of the daily lives of individuals and institutions worldwide.

In 2025, the Crypto industry underwent many changes, and for public chains and L2s, the risks and challenges faced are growing. As each chain chooses to consolidate, strengthen its internal capabilities, and patiently refine its products, the high-speed road for the blockchain industry is being built. We just need more time for this broad avenue to become even more bustling.

Sei Surpasses 13 Million Unique Active Wallets

Jeff, Founder of Sei, stated that in 2025, Sei established solid partnerships with top traditional financial institutions like BlackRock, Brevan Howard, Apollo Global Management, and Laser Digital. Furthermore, achieving another major milestone with Sei's listing on the Robinhood platform.

On-chain activity has surged, and Sei has become a leading Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) chain by the number of unique active wallets (reaching 13.67 million in October 2025), with cumulative transaction volume exceeding 4 billion. Our ecosystem continues to thrive, with Yei and Metarena successfully conducting Token Generation Events (TGEs), while applications like Takaralend, Monaco, Pit.Finance, and Kindred have gained widespread attention. Looking ahead, we are building the fastest EVM ever—Sei Giga—aiming to set a new performance benchmark for blockchain infrastructure.

The collaboration with OKX has significantly enhanced Sei's visibility and community influence in Asia, especially in Japan, where we successfully listed on OKX Japan (OKX Jp). Additionally, OKX has helped us grow our ecosystem through wallet promotion campaigns, greatly accelerating our growth in the decentralized finance (DeFi) space. Looking forward, Sei will explore ways to integrate more deeply into the OKX ecosystem and support the next wave of builders within the OKX community.

Sonic On-Chain Transaction Volume Breaks 100 Million, Achieving Zero Downtime

In early 2025, Sonic launched a points program and hosted a Decentralized Finance and Artificial Intelligence (DeFAI) hackathon to boost ecosystem activity and incentivize participants. In March, Sonic completed integrations with Aave and Pendle, further refining its DeFi infrastructure. From April to May, Sonic's Total Value Locked (TVL) reached $1 billion, introduced native USDC.e via Circle's CCTP V2, and launched instant, zero-fee Sonic Pay. In June, on-chain transaction volume surpassed 100 million, achieving zero downtime and sub-second confirmations while marking one of the fastest milestones among EVM chains; the same month, it completed a $10 million strategic funding round led by Galaxy Ventures and introduced GSR as a market maker.

During July to September, Sonic hosted Sonic Summit 2025 in Singapore on September 29-30. In August, it launched Airdrop Season 2 and an S-Tier hackathon, passed its first governance proposal, established a US entity, advanced institutional custody business with BitGo, and progressed plans related to ETP/ETF and Nasdaq PIPE listings. In September, Sonic appointed Mitchell Demeter as CEO and welcomed a $25 million Resonance Security dedicated fund launched by CMCC Global. In October, Sonic initiated a $6 million $S token buyback plan; in November, Airdrop Season 2 concluded successfully.

Past collaborations with OKX have been smooth and efficient. In expanding Sonic's user reach, OKX demonstrated strong execution and provided powerful support. Looking ahead, we hope to deepen cooperation in practical areas such as product integration, ecosystem growth initiatives, user education, and jointly hosting more offline events to support Sonic's sustained growth across multiple regions.

ZetaChain Surpasses 11.5 Million Unique Users, Transaction Volume Exceeds 223 Million

Jessie Zhang, Head of Incubation and Investment at ZetaChain, stated that in 2025, ZetaChain achieved scale, with unique users on its Omnichain surpassing 11.5 million and transaction volume reaching 223 million. The network expanded through strategic partnerships with Google Cloud, Deutsche Telekom, and Alibaba, and added integrations with several important chains including Sui and TON. In terms of regulation, ZetaChain also made progress, aligning with the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCAR) in Europe and gaining recognition from the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) in Dubai. As we step into 2026, ZetaChain is poised to further advance the development of omnichains and launch a major initiative at the intersection of cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence.

OKX has been a significant partner since ZetaChain's early testnet phase. Together, we launched the first Cryptopedia campaign, enabled OKX Wallet support on the very first day of ZetaChain's mainnet launch, and introduced multiple ZETA staking and reward programs for OKX users. Furthermore, our teams have jointly hosted numerous community events worldwide, including a BTC meetup at Token 2049 in Singapore, a Hong Kong Bitcoin Halving celebration party, and an Omnichain Day event at ETHDenver. Looking ahead to 2026, we anticipate deepening our collaboration by launching new projects to further advance omnichain development and accelerate the adoption of AI-powered Web3 applications.