NEAR Protocol priceNEAR

Solana, Ethereum, and BNB Chain led L1 roles across speculation, settlement, and scale. Ethereum became a settlement while L2s like Base handled high volume and cheaper execution. Stablecoins, privacy chains, and performance L1s grew, driving fragmented niche usage. In 2025, global Layer 1 blockchain activity shifted despite weak token prices across major markets. Trading concentrated on Solana, BNB Chain, and Ethereum while stablecoins, privacy networks, and performance chains drove usage. These developments were driven by speculation, scaling limits, and rising demand for cheaper settlement. Speculation Concentrates on High-Throughput Chains Speculation shaped most retail activity in 2025, especially through memecoin trading on fast and cheap blockchains. Solana and BNB Chain handled much of this volume because they offer quick transactions and strong liquidity. In January, Solana’s decentralized exchange trading hit a record high, largely fueled by the TRUMP and MELANIA tokens. Those two memecoins accounted for about 48.5% of Solana’s January DEX activity. Pump.fun alone generated roughly 23% of Solana’s year-to-date application revenue. Because of this, launchpads played a key role in Solana’s activity during the height of speculation. But their influence dropped once memecoin hype cooled later in the year. Source: The Block Ethereum and BNB Chain then regained a larger share of DEX trading, leading to a more balanced market by mid-2025. This shift showed that Solana depended heavily on short bursts of speculative interest rather than a wide range of steady activity. BNB Chain, however, developed along a different path. Technical upgrades, including the Lorentz and Maxwell hard forks, reduced block times from three seconds to 0.75 seconds. These changes allowed the network to handle sudden activity spikes more efficiently. At the same time, cultural momentum redirected speculative flows toward BNB Chain-native platforms. Four.meme accounted for roughly 21.8% of BNB Chain’s year-to-date application revenue. Around this activity, DeFi usage consolidated around projects like Aster and Lista DAO. Ethereum and Its Settlement Role While speculation moved elsewhere, Ethereum strengthened its role as a settlement and data layer. Total value locked across Ethereum-based DeFi peaked above $97.5 billion during the year. Notably, Ethereum’s transaction count reached record levels, even as usage shifted toward Layer 2 networks. Base processed more than 3.3 billion transactions year-to-date, compared with roughly 473 million on the Ethereum mainnet. This divergence reflected Ethereum’s rollup-first roadmap. The Pectra hard fork reinforced this direction through execution and consensus upgrades. At the same time, mainnet fees dropped sharply. Average transaction costs fell from about $7.25 on January 1 to nearly $0.19 later in the year. These levels matched prices last seen in early 2020. Lower fees supported Ethereum’s function as a settlement layer rather than a high-frequency execution venue. Consequently, Ethereum absorbed value while pushing activity outward to Layer 2s. This structure allowed Ethereum to scale without directly competing on throughput. Stablecoins and Specialized L1s Shape 2026 Outlook Stablecoins became the biggest source of activity across major blockchains in 2025. Their total market value grew by about 45%, helped by more than $90 billion in new supply. This expansion supported things like memecoin trading, perpetual markets, prediction platforms, and increased use by institutions. Stablecoin balances on Solana jumped roughly 159% over the year, boosted by $4.5 billion in new USDC issued early on. Hyperliquid saw about 118% growth, mainly linked to higher perpetual futures trading. Aptos and Polygon also recorded strong gains of 142% and 76%, driven by BUIDL-related deployments. At the same time, new blockchains built specifically around stablecoins began to appear. These stablecoin-focused networks raised over $548 million in disclosed funding during 2025. Plasma quickly became the eighth-largest Layer 1 by stablecoin supply within three months of launch. Although Plasma’s activity later declined, new entrants continued to test the model. Stable launched in December, while Circle’s Arc and Stripe–Paradigm’s Tempo remained in testnet. These networks focused on compliance features, simplified fees, and on-chain foreign exchange. Related: The Role of Layer 1 Blockchains in the Crypto Ecosystem Specialization extended beyond stablecoins. Privacy-focused networks gained attention after Monero’s hashrate disruption involving Qubic. Following that episode, Zcash posted a 661% year-to-date increase, briefly surpassing Monero in market capitalization. Zcash’s integration with NEAR Protocol enabled cross-chain private transactions with selective disclosure. Shielded supply rose from about 9% in January to nearly 24% in November. At the same time, performance-focused chains like Monad and Fogo targeted lower latency trading through parallel execution and optimized validators. As 2026 gets closer, the main blockchain networks are starting to serve more specific purposes instead of all trying to do the same thing. Solana, Ethereum, BNB Chain, Zcash, Plasma, Monad, and others each settled into clearer roles in 2025, whether that was for trading, payments, privacy, speed, or stablecoin activity. Overall, the system became more spread out and specialized, shaped by how people actually use these networks instead of just following price trends. Disclaimer: The information provided by CryptoTale is for educational and informational purposes only and should not be considered financial advice. Always conduct your own research and consult with a professional before making any investment decisions. CryptoTale is not liable for any financial losses resulting from the use of the content. Tags Ethereum (ETH) News Solana (SOL) News Stablecoin News

The cryptocurrency networks and altcoins with the highest number of non-empty wallets have been revealed. Based on unique on-chain wallet address data, the list clearly shows the adoption level of the ecosystems and their changes over the past 30 days. Here are the altcoins with the highest number of token holders currently, according to the latest onchain data, and how this number has changed over the past month: BNB Chain (BNB) – 278.2 million users (+4.0%) Ethereum (ETH) – 276.3 million users (+1.7%) Tron (TRX) – 169.7 million users (0%) Solana (SOL) – 154.5 million users (+1.3%) TON (TON) – 142.6 million users (+1.3%) NEAR Protocol (NEAR) – 131.2 million users (+0.2%) Polygon (POL) – 121.9 million users (+4.2%) Bitcoin (BTC) – 75.2 million users (+0.7%) Aptos (APT) – 47.9 million users (0.0%) Flow (FLOW) – 41.9 million users (+0.5%) Mythos (MYTH) – 10.5 million users (+3.9%) Stellar (XLM) – 6.1 million users (+0.2%) Celo (CELO) – 5.9 million users (+0.8%) Hedera (HBAR) – 4.6 million users (+0.7%) peaq (PEAQ) – 3.2 million users (+0.6%) Related News Bitcoin Bull Arthur Hayes Did What He Said He Would: He Started Selling an Altcoin Today In total, according to onchain data, there are 1.4 billion wallets with balances in them. *This is not investment advice. Follow our Telegram and Twitter account now for exclusive news, analytics and on-chain data!

NEAR price has been held in a falling wedge, which indicates less volatility and tightening market structure. The support is still at $1.49 and the resistance at $1.53 which limits the downside and the short-term upside movement respectively. The wedge formation defines breakout parameters, with technical scope pointing to a possible 40–50% move. NEAR Protocol (NEAR) traded near $1.53 during the latest session as price action compressed inside a clearly defined falling wedge. The four-hour chart showed lower highs and higher lows tightening steadily. This structure framed market attention on a potential directional move. Price activity stayed contained, while volatility narrowed across consecutive sessions. Notably, this compression unfolded after an extended decline. That context shaped how traders monitored short-term levels and positioning. Price Compression Shapes Short-Term Structure NEAR held a tight range as sellers and buyers met within converging trendlines. The existing price of $1.53 showed a small 0.1 percent per day decrease. But price did not fall below the support of the $1.49 in the course of the session.That behavior kept downside movement limited. At the same time, resistance aligned closely with $1.53. This overlap narrowed the effective trading range further. As compression increased, the wedge structure became more visible. The pattern developed without sharp volume spikes. Therefore, price behavior stayed orderly rather than reactive. This setup naturally directed attention toward breakout thresholds. Key Levels Define Immediate Market Focus Support at $1.49 continued to anchor short-term downside control. Price tested this area without extending losses. Meanwhile, resistance at $1.53 capped intraday advances. The 24-hour range remained narrow between these levels. That balance reflected ongoing indecision rather than trend expansion. In BTC terms, NEAR traded near 0.00001722 BTC with a 0.8% change. This relative stability added context to the compression phase. As a result, traders tracked level interaction rather than momentum. These conditions set the stage for evaluating directional follow-through. Wedge Structure Highlights Breakout Parameters The falling wedge on the four-hour chart defined clear technical boundaries. Price continued squeezing toward the apex of the structure. This alignment placed emphasis on trend resolution rather than continuation. $NEAR squeezing inside a falling Wedge 👀Breakout could flip the trend → 40-50% Bullish Wave 📈#NEAR #NEARUSDT pic.twitter.com/81khJ4PKhr— ZAYK Charts (@ZAYKCharts) December 21, 2025 According to the setup, a breakout from the wedge could allow a 40% to 50% upward move. However, price had not confirmed such a move during the observed period. Until resolution occurs, structure alone guides expectations. This technical framing remained central to NEAR activity within the broader context of the NEAR Protocol market. Tags: Crypto market cryptocurrency Near

Major Altcoin Shipments: 2025 Roadmap Overview Layer 1 / Core Blockchains $ETH – Pectra + Fusaka upgrades, ETF inflows, major scalability improvements $SOL – Alpenglow upgrade, inflation changes, DDoS stress test passed $ADA – Voltaire governance era, Catalyst funding, global roadmap $AVAX – Avalanche 9000 upgrade, lower subnet costs $NEAR – Halving upgrade, Nightshade 2.0, Intents & chain signatures $ALGO – Algorand 4.0, dynamic block timing, India Summit $KAS – Crescendo hard fork (10× block production speed) $SUI – Walrus mainnet, Basecamp + SuiFest, gaming expansion $SEI – Giga upgrade (200k TPS), Sei V2 EVM support Infrastructure & Scaling $LINK – SmartCon 2025, CCIP expansion, enterprise integrations $ICP – AI roadmap expansion, enterprise adoption, World Computer Summit $POL – Rio upgrade, Polygon 2.0 execution phase $UNI – Uniswap v4, customizable liquidity pools $AAVE – Aave v4, unified liquidity, GHO stablecoin rollout AI, Compute & DePIN $RENDER – Distributed rendering system, Redshift integration $ATH – IDC V2 mainnet, GPU scaling roadmap $TAO – First halving, dynamic rewards, subnet efficiency upgrades Privacy & Payments $ZEC – Network Upgrade 6.1 (NU6.1) $ARRR – BTCPay integration, merchant growth, unified wallet $ANYONE – P2P partnerships, BloFin listing, privacy relay expansion $ZANO – Zebec Cards integration, fUSD + ZanoBay live $ZBCN – ISO 20022 payroll rails, rebrand + token split, SOC 2 compliance DeFi, RWAs & Ecosystem Growth $INJ – Buyback & burn, performance upgrades, iAssets expansion $ONDO – $250M Catalyst Fund, Oasis Pro acquisition $CFG – Token migration completed, RWA funding round $CPOOL – Upbit listing, liquidity growth, DeFi lending expansion $GEOD – GIP-7 live, usage-based token burns $QUBIC – Halving, 15.5M TPS showcase, ecosystem roadmap rollout 2025 Focus: Scalability • AI • RWAs • Privacy • Real adoption Build season is here. Stay positioned.