2023 Crypto Year in Review: INJ Tops Gainers, Lido Leads DeFi TVL

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The cryptocurrency market rebounded strongly in late 2023 after a prolonged consolidation period, closing the year with impressive momentum across multiple sectors. From surging Layer 1 tokens to explosive new DApps and shifting narratives in DeFi and NFTs, the landscape evolved rapidly. This comprehensive review analyzes key trends in token performance, public blockchains, decentralized finance (DeFi), non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and decentralized applications (DApps), based on transaction and on-chain data.

Top Performers in the 2023 Crypto Market

In the volatile world of digital assets, 2023 stood out for its sharp rallies despite broader macroeconomic uncertainty. Among the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market cap, the top 30 gainers averaged an extraordinary 512.75% increase in price.

Leading the pack was Injective (INJ), which surged over 2,994%, followed by KAS at nearly 1,993% and Render (RNDR) with a gain of around 1,037%. These standout performers were largely mid-cap assets ranked between #30 and #50 by market cap, suggesting that significant alpha emerged outside the largest blue-chip names.

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Bitcoin, while still a strong performer with a 153% gain, ranked 28th among the top gainers—highlighting how newer narratives drove outsized returns. Notably, Layer 1 and Layer 2 protocols dominated the leaderboard, accounting for nearly half of the top 30 gainers. DeFi, AI-driven projects, and exchange tokens also contributed to the rally, though with fewer representatives.

Despite their massive price increases, many of these tokens maintained relatively modest daily trading volumes—KAS averaged just $17 million per day—indicating tight liquidity and potential for volatility. The average intraday price swing among top gainers was 1.15%, reflecting heightened investor sentiment and speculative activity.

Public Blockchains: Avalanche and Solana Lead Growth

When evaluating blockchain ecosystems, key metrics include active addresses, transaction volume, fees, and year-over-year growth. In 2023, Tron, BNB Chain, and Bitcoin led in daily active addresses, with Tron topping the chart at 1.81 million daily users.

However, Avalanche saw the highest year-on-year growth in active addresses—up 239%—followed by Solana with a 92% increase. Both chains also showed strong transaction growth, driven by increased adoption in DeFi and new user onboarding.

Solana stood out for its transaction throughput, reaching over 24 million daily transactions by year-end (excluding votes), far surpassing most competitors. NEAR Protocol recorded the highest growth in transaction count—over 1,144% YoY, likely fueled by the rise of on-chain memes and inscriptions.

While Ethereum remained the leader in total fees collected—generating $2.37 billion** in annual network revenue—its growth in user activity was more subdued compared to emerging chains. Bitcoin’s fee income also rose significantly to **$734 million, reflecting increased usage during the memecoin and ordinals boom.

This shift signals a diversification of user activity beyond Ethereum, with Avalanche, Solana, and NEAR gaining traction as scalable alternatives for developers and users alike.

DeFi Rebounds: Lido Dominates TVL

Decentralized finance experienced steady growth in 2023, with total value locked (TVL) rising from $38 billion** to **$54.5 billion—a 43% increase—returning to levels last seen before the 2022 market downturn.

At the forefront was Lido, which maintained a commanding lead with **$20.5 billion in TVL**, primarily through liquid staking solutions on Ethereum and other chains. It was followed by established players like **MakerDAO**, **Aave**, and **JustLend**, each holding between $6.4 billion and $8.4 billion in assets.

A notable trend was the emergence of seven new protocols entering the TVL top 30, including Blast, EigenLayer, and Spark—all leveraging restaking and yield optimization models that captured significant attention.

Protocols built on Solana and Avalanche also gained prominence. Jito, a Solana-based liquid staking provider, saw its TVL grow by an astonishing 19,710%, while Marinade Finance posted gains over 1,800%. On Avalanche, Benqi achieved a TVL increase of over 660%, underscoring the growing strength of non-Ethereum DeFi ecosystems.

From a revenue perspective, MakerDAO led with over **$103 million** in annual protocol income, thanks to its stablecoin DAI ecosystem. Lido and PancakeSwap followed closely with over $50 million each. Other high-earning protocols included GMX, Synthetix, and Aave—all generating over $15 million annually.

The dominance of lending, liquid staking, and decentralized exchanges (DEXs) continued, but new categories like real-world asset (RWA) tokenization and derivatives platforms began gaining traction despite limited TVL presence.

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NFT Market: Volume Up Amid Price Declines

Despite a bearish sentiment in prices, the NFT sector saw increased on-chain activity in 2023. Total NFT market capitalization across major chains (Ethereum, Solana, Polygon, BNB Chain) fell by 31%, dropping from $23.4 billion to $16.1 billion.

Yet transaction volume rose by 28%, user addresses increased by 76%, and new NFT collections launched grew by nearly 200%—indicating stronger participation even as valuations corrected.

Top trading volume leaders included:

Surprisingly, some niche projects delivered extraordinary price appreciation:

Meanwhile, major blue-chip collections suffered steep declines:

This divergence reflects a shift from brand-driven hype to community engagement and utility-focused projects.

Gaming & Social DApps: Bursty but Promising

The gaming and social Web3 sectors saw a wave of new entrants in 2023. According to DappRadar estimates:

Top gaming DApps by projected annual active users:

Top social DApps:

While gaming apps attracted significantly more users (average ~9.8M vs ~216K), both categories shared two key traits: burstiness and lack of sustainability.

Most projects experienced explosive growth upon launch—motoDEX saw active address growth exceeding 2 million percent—but failed to retain users long-term. For example, Friend.tech peaked at 73,700 daily active addresses in August but declined steadily thereafter.

Many of these applications launched on Polygon, Ethereum, and BNB Chain, though cross-chain deployment is becoming more common.

Frequently Asked Questions

What was the best-performing crypto in 2023?

Injective (INJ) was the top performer among major cryptocurrencies, surging over 2,994% in 2023 due to strong fundamentals and growing adoption in its decentralized exchange ecosystem.

Why did Lido dominate DeFi TVL?

Lido leads due to its dominant position in liquid staking, allowing users to stake ETH and other assets while maintaining liquidity through staking derivatives like stETH.

Which blockchain had the highest growth in users?

Avalanche recorded the highest year-over-year growth in daily active addresses at over 239%, driven by new DeFi integrations and subnet adoption.

Are NFTs still relevant after price drops?

Yes. While blue-chip NFT prices declined significantly, overall transaction volume and user engagement increased—showing that utility-focused projects are gaining momentum.

What caused the surge in new DeFi protocols?

Innovations like restaking (EigenLayer), yield aggregation (Blast), and liquid staking (Jito) attracted capital by offering enhanced returns and composability.

Is Friend.tech still popular?

No. After peaking in August 2023 with over 73k daily active users, Friend.tech experienced a steady decline in activity, highlighting challenges in sustaining social token models.

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