Ethereum’s share of total value (TVL) in DeFi has compressed from 63.5% in early 2025 to around 54% on May 7, hovering around its lowest level since May 2025.
DefiLlama estimates Ethereum’s current TVL at $45.4 billion, while the equity-absorbing chains each serve distinct functions such as decentralized exchange flows (DEX), stablecoin settlement, BTC collateral, consumer onboarding, and perpetuals trading.
Solana owns 6.66% of DeFi TVL, BNB Chain 6.60%, Bitcoin 6.35%, Tron 6.17%, Base 5.44% and Hyperliquid 1.81%. That clustering defines DeFi as having moved from a single Ethereum-centric hub to a network of specialized rails.
Which chains conquered the market
BSC built its position on Binance-linked distribution. In Q2 2025, CoinGecko reported that PancakeSwap volume increased 539.2% quarter-over-quarter to $392.6 billion, accounting for 45% of the top 10 DEX volume, with Binance Alpha routing trades directly through PancakeSwap.
DefiLlama currently shows BSC with $5.55 billion in TVL and $739.6 million in 24-hour DEX volume. Binance has deepened that integration through Alpha Earn, which allows users to provide liquidity to PancakeSwap V3 directly from Binance Wallet, and Alpha 2.0 integrates DEX trading into the Binance Exchange interface.
Binance manages the front-end, PancakeSwap executes the transaction and BSC collects the volume.
Tron operates on a different axis. DefiLlama shows $89.6 billion worth of stablecoins on Tron, with USDT accounting for 97.86% of that figure, while 24-hour DEX volume is only $55.5 million.
Tron’s $5.19 billion DeFi TVL understates its role as the chain with the largest stablecoin flows in crypto, functioning as a dollar settlement rail with thin app diversity and massive throughput.
Bitcoin’s DeFi TVL reached $5.34 billion, with 6.35% dominance, up 13.4% over 30 days, despite a 24-hour DEX volume of just $338,516. The difference defines BTCFi’s thesis: capital migrates to Bitcoin to generate returns and provide collateral.
Bitcoin’s DeFi role emerges as a productivity layer, one where capital is monetized through collateral and credit protocols.
Basis is the most consequential part of the competitive map, as it operates within the Ethereum stack while eroding the main share of Ethereum L1. Coinbase built Base as an Ethereum layer-2 (L2) on the OP Stack, and the distribution benefit is that Base App operates in over 140 countries.
DefiLlama shows $4.58 billion in Base TVL, $4.93 billion in stablecoins, and $854.97 million in 24-hour DEX volume.
Activity migrating from Ethereum L1 through Base continues to establish itself within the Ethereum security model. Coinbase has packaged Ethereum block space behind its own consumer distribution layer and routes that activity through a Coinbase-managed execution environment.
Hyperliquid shows that liquidity can now be organized entirely around execution quality. DefiLlama shows $1.52 billion in TVL on Hyperliquid L1, in addition to $9.37 billion in 24-hour perpetuals volume, $42.4 billion in 7-day, and $8.94 billion in open interest.
Hyperliquid operates fully on-chain perpetual and spot order books on a purpose-built chain, and these volume figures confirm that perpetuals have grown large enough to form a standalone DeFi liquidity center.
Open interest and daily turnover measure Hyperliquid’s true market weight, as TVL controls only a fraction of the chain’s activity.
Solana operates on a scale that puts it in a separate category from specialty rails. CoinGecko shows $15.26 billion in 24-hour on-chain trading volume on Solana, the largest of all chains, and DefiLlama estimates its DeFi dominance at 6.66%.
Solana functions as a high-throughput general-purpose trading platform, simultaneously distributing flow across DEXs, memecoins, liquid staking, and institutional tokenization efforts. Its continued size confirms that the DeFi market supports both specialized railroads and broad-based competitors.
| Chain | Leading role in DeFi | TVL | Key activity metric | Why it grew |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BNB Smart Chain | Binance-linked DEX flow | $5.55 billion | $739.6 million 24-hour DEX volume | Binance distribution, PancakeSwap routing |
| Tron | Stablecoin settlement rail | $5.19 billion | $89.6 billion stablecoins, 97.86% USDT share | Dollar transfers, thin app diversity |
| Bitcoin | BTC Collateral / BTCFi | $5.34 billion | $338,516 24-hour DEX volume | Productive BTC, collateral utility |
| Base | Coinbase-linked Ethereum L2 | $4.58 billion | $854.97 million 24-hour DEX volume, $4.93 billion stablecoins | Consumer onboarding, Coinbase distribution |
| Hyperfluid | Perpetuals location | $1.52 billion | $9.37 billion 24-hour volume, $8.94 billion OI | Execution quality, purpose built market |
| Solana | General purpose trading platform | 6.66% share | $15.26 billion 24-hour chain trading volume | Broad app mix with high throughput |
What Ethereum Still Controls
Ethereum’s absolute position is still strong. DefiLlama shows $45.4 billion in TVL, $165.5 billion in stablecoins, $1.45 billion in 24-hour DEX volume, and $1.61 billion in 24-hour perps volume.
Ethereum is home to the blue-chip lending protocols, the deepest liquidity pools for stablecoins, and the institutional integrations that most DeFi infrastructure relies on as a backstop.
The 30-day TVL data adds important context: Ethereum grew 13.9% over that period, alongside Bitcoin 13.4%, Base 10.5%, Hyperliquid 7.3%, Tron 6.8% and BSC 2.9%.
The market is expanding simultaneously across multiple chains, and the redistribution of shares reflects the specialization within that expansion.
Any dominance analysis based purely on TVL needs a methodological caveat. DefiLlama counts chain TVL as the sum of protocol TVL and excludes liquid staking from chain totals by default.
Price increases can affect TVL figures without net capital inflows, and DefiLlama traces bridge TVL separately. A complete picture requires stablecoin supply, number of transactions and trading volumes in addition to TVL, each of which tells a different story about where DeFi activity is actually concentrated.
Two paths for Ethereum stock
If stablecoin-heavy and lending activity grows faster than specialized venues, and if Base’s growth is read in the market as the strength of the Ethereum stack, Ethereum’s TVL share could recover to 55%-58% by the end of 2026.
Ethereum’s $165.5 billion stablecoin base and deep lending protocols are the foundation for that path.
As Binance deepens Alpha integration, Coinbase continues to push Base through its consumer app layer, further expands the use of BTCFi collateral, and Hyperliquid maintains its grip on on-chain perpetuals, Ethereum’s share falls towards 46%-50%.
In that scenario, Ethereum functions as the primary settlement and custody layer of DeFi, while most user-facing activity flows through specialized locations with better distribution economics.
Ethereum’s real challenge is holding on to the settlement layer while specialized chains capture the use cases with the fastest user growth.
TVL’s absolute lead is large enough to absorb compression, and its stablecoin and institutional depth strengthen its position as DeFi’s core balance sheet.