Top Blockchain Projects Enabling Real-World Use in 2025

VeChain is one of the leading blockchain ecosystems for applications with real-world utilities, founded in 2015 by Sunny Lu. Since then, VeChain has developed hundreds of useful dApps across various industries, as well as launched a range of significant ‘X to Earn’ applications in the VeBetter ecosystem:

• VeChainThor: A highly scalable Layer-1 blockchain that serves as the foundation of the VeChain ecosystem. The blockchain currently operates on the Proof-of-Authority consensus algorithm and is in the process of transitioning to Weighted Delegated Proof-of-Stake (WDPoS), which will enable faster block finality, introduce a new staking model via NFTs, and make the network more decentralized. In addition, VeChainThor is one of the few blockchains with 100% uptime, operating continuously without interruption since 2018.
• VeBetter: A Web3 incentive platform launched in 2024, where users’ actions are verified via eco-friendly dApps and rewarded with its native token B3TR, generating real-world impact. In just over a year, VeBetter has verified over 40 million actions across 5 million wallets, and the ecosystem now hosts more than 45 applications. Notable apps include Mugshot, which rewards users for reusable mug usage (over 2.2 million wallets), and Greencart, which incentivizes eco-conscious shopping (2.1 million wallets).
• VeWorld: A non-custodial crypto wallet with over 5 million downloads, available on iOS, Android, and as a Chrome extension. VeWorld serves as the primary gateway connecting users to the VeChain ecosystem, providing a simple and familiar interface to access all essential crypto functions, participate in network activities via staking on StarGate (VeChain’s new staking portal), and use VeBetter dApps to earn B3TR and engage in governance. As such, VeWorld plays an important role in mass adoption, offering user-friendly features like discovery for popular VeBetter apps and gas fee abstraction (where applications can cover transaction fees for users) lowering the knowledge barrier to entry for non-Web3 native audiences.

Polygon is a blockchain ecosystem founded in 2017 as Matic Network, focused on scaling Ethereum, enabling global payments using blockchain technology, and tokenizing RWAs, all of which contribute to mass blockchain adoption. Today, Polygon is one of the leading blockchain infrastructures, with its foundation being Polygon PoS, which has over 530 million unique addresses.

Polygon PoS is a scalability solution for Ethereum that operates as a sidechain, maintaining 99.99% uptime for over 5 years. It has processed more than 5.3 billion transactions, with a total transaction volume exceeding $141 billion. The network also powers global payments and financial applications, standing out with high throughput (up to 1,000 TPS), rapid finality, and extremely low transaction costs of around $0.0001.

In June 2025, Polygon announced the Gigagas roadmap, targeting network capacity of up to 100,000 transactions per second, 1-second block times with instant confirmations, an expanded validator set, integration of Agglayers, and other critical upgrades. These enhancements will enable traditional finance to deploy payment solutions on Polygon, also giving users a seamless experience across all Polygon chains and dApps.

Avalanche is a blockchain platform founded in 2018, offering robust infrastructure for businesses, institutions, and organizations across industries, enabling high scalability to manage real-world transaction volumes. Avalanche Primary Network lies at the core of the ecosystem and is a Layer-1 network that manages three blockchains:

• Platform Chain (P-Chain): Coordinates validators and manages staking.
• Contract Chain (C-Chain): Runs Ethereum-compatible smart contracts.
• Exchange Chain (X-Chain): Facilitates the creation and exchange of digital assets.

Developers can also build their own Layer-1 chains using Avalanche’s open-source Layer-0 framework, leveraging high throughput and flexibility.

A standout use case for Avalanche is Web3 gaming, where near-instant transaction finality and cross-chain interoperability enable a fast and seamless player experience. Games like Shrapnel, Spellborne, Pulsar, and others are already live on Avalanche, while Pixelmon has signed an exclusive partnership with the blockchain for its upcoming flagship mobile title Warden’s Ascent, scheduled to launch in late 2025.

Stellar is a Layer-1 blockchain founded in 2014 with the goal of delivering real-world solutions to provide seamless financial access for users and organizations everywhere. Since its launch, Stellar has grown into one of the leading networks in global payments, partnering with top organizations and offering access to over 475,000 crypto on- and off-ramp locations worldwide.

Stellar uses Proof-of-Agreement (PoA), where trusted validators agree on transactions in small groups called quorums. Each validator provides identifying information on the public record and does not earn rewards like in PoW or PoS. This algorithm makes the network faster, significantly more energy-efficient than PoS and PoW according to the Stellar document, and enables transaction finality in about 5 seconds.

IOTA is a blockchain infrastructure founded in 2015, with its key focus areas being RWA tokenization, transparent and decentralized data verification and transfer, and accessible development tools for businesses to easily implement these solutions. At the core of the IOTA ecosystem, powering real-world applications, are:

• IOTA Mainnet: A Layer-1 blockchain with over 1.1 million unique addresses, operating on the Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS) consensus algorithm and powered by the Move programming language.
• IOTA EVM: A Layer-2 blockchain scaling the IOTA Mainnet, capable of processing up to 50,000 transactions per second. It is designed for fast smart contracts that can handle large volumes of transactions and data.

IOTA provides all the necessary tools for secure and decentralized real-world asset tokenization with advanced customization, allowing businesses to fit specific use cases. In addition, IOTA offers on-chain digital identity solutions and data verification, enabling businesses and organizations to protect data in a decentralized environment against manipulation and fraud.

IOTA stands out for its user-centric approach, particularly with the IOTA Gas Station solution, which allows dApps to sponsor gas fees for users, greatly simplifying the Web3 experience and driving real adoption among a large number of new users.