Blockchain in May: Transactions Surge, BNB Roars, and PancakeSwap Dethrones Uniswap

The blockchain ecosystem saw a robust recovery in May, with transaction volumes almost back to their peak levels, stable capital inflows, and a couple of unexpected shifts in which chains have the most activity. According to data from Dune Analytics, Solana handled the most transactions in May, but the BNB Chain from Binance made the biggest advances in not just transaction volume but also in usage, while trading decentralized exchanges (DEXs)—for the first time—saw PancakeSwap (running on the BNB Chain) surpass Uniswap in trading volume. The data provides a view into a world defined by competition and change—a multi-chain environment where fresh platforms vie for attention and heritage networks work hard to hold onto their constituencies. Transactions Climb, But Fees Stay in Check The month of May brought in a total of 1.17 billion blockchain transactions. —This was up from 953 million in April. —It was almost a match with January’s record-breaking 1.2 billion. Yet again, Solana topped this metric, processing about 60% of all blockchain transactions. —This figure was down from 66% in April and a peak of 70% in January—when memecoins and Trump-themed tokens briefly ignited a blockchain frenzy. —In other words, Solana may be gaining ground, but there’s clearly less on-chain action to be had when it comes to NFTs and associated token pumps. BNB Chain was the real growth winner; its transaction counts more than doubled, from 80 million in April (8.4% of all blockchain activity) to 198 million in May (17% share). This spike in DEX volume, primarily via PancakeSwap, is likely the key growth driver. Network fees stayed low despite the influx of transactions. Fees climbed to $192 million in May from $143 million in April, they were still way off from January’s height. The amount given to validators and block producers to secure the network was still modest when you consider the business taking place on-chain and how much of it was effectively being drained for fees. Solana led the chains in fee generation in May after Tron had briefly taken that title in February and March. Underneath those numbers, activity levels are up. Fee extraction, however, has yet to catch up. Capital Flow: Bitcoin Leads, BNB Climbs, Solana Lags Transaction volume tells only half the story. When it comes to the sheer movement of dollars, Bitcoin is still the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world. In May, the value sent across the Bitcoin network weighed in at $231 billion, outpacing all other blockchains by what in sports would be called a wide margin. Of the second-place finishers, $155 billion worth of value was sent across the Ethereum network, a number that’s not staggering but does show a kind of consistency from that particular blockchain. In 2025, for the first time, value transfer on BNB Chain outstripped that on Ethereum, with $158 billion making its way across the BNB chain—that’s 48% growth year-on-year. Where was this value coming from? Almost half of it was from BNB Chain’s native DEXs, which have effectively grabbed the “top DEX” spot in the market. In addition, half of the value that reached BNB Chain was from DEXs, with the rest likely from general DeFi projects and protocols, given that BNB Chain is home to many of them. On the whole, this incredible rebound has been fueled by Value on BNB Chain manifesting from DeFi and DEX usage. For all its dominance in transaction count, Solana moved just $68 billion in capital during May. That’s less than half of what it moved in January, when Solana brought in $141 billion. Even so, it remains one of the top networks in terms of overall capital flow. The big difference that must be noted, however, is that Solana seems to be very much oriented toward moving high volumes at low value. When the Solana network does move capital, it doesn’t do so quickly. 1/ Here’s your monthly blockchain activity recap powered by Dune curated tables—cross-chain, cross-domain, and ultra-queryable. Highlights: • 1.17B txs • $512B DEX volume • $192M in fees • @BNBCHAIN ’s comeback • @PancakeSwap flips @Uniswap — Dune (@Dune) June 2, 2025 PancakeSwap Topples Uniswap, DEX Activity Explodes The most prominent headline development in May was PancakeSwap’s explosive growth, which allowed it to surpass Uniswap and become the top decentralized exchange by trading volume. In May, PancakeSwap processed an astonishing $173 billion in trading volume, up from $30.9 billion in April—a 5.6x jump that accounted for 33% of all trading activity among DEXes in May. This is the highest monthly market share any DEX has achieved so far in 2025. Despite posting solid volume, Uniswap, which had historically dominated the DEX space, was edged out. The two titans even had a direct face-off on May 21, with PancakeSwap processing $5.7 billion to Uniswap’s $5 billion. The main benefactor of the decentralized exchange resurgence was the BNB chain. Volume on the DEXs built on the chain soared from 28 billion in April to 187 billion in May. Daily trading volume on the DEX PancakeSwap was 12 billion at peak times, placing it at the top of the DEX leaderboard. Another DEX growth of note was on Solana with its $129 billion in total trading volume. Base followed with $75 billion in total trading volume. Yet to be overlooked is Unichain, which saw an explosion of trading activity from $3.4 billion to $13 billion in May. NFT Market Sees Modest Recovery Even if the story of DEX isn’t as dramatic, the markets for NFTs have seen a slight recovery in May. Total trading volumes for NFTs rose from $142 million in April to $191 million, a number still far below the January high of $666 million. Solana grew a bit in market share, moving from 16% to 17% of the total NFT market. Ronin, meanwhile, saw its share drop substantially, going from 4.7% to 1.2% of the total market. The dominance of platforms was relatively stable: OpenSea retains the lead with a 42% share, followed by Blur with 25% and Magic Eden with 17%. Conclusion May 2025 made it clear that not only is blockchain activity vigorous, but it is also shifting rapidly. With PancakeSwap zooming past Uniswap, BNB Chain reestablishing its foothold, and transaction counts rising without fee inflation, the ecosystem is proving to be both competitive and user-friendly. Whether these developments are merely fleeting or represent a permanent realignment in the Web3 power structure will become evident in the months ahead. Disclosure: This is not trading or investment advice. 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Source: NullTx