Ethereum’s DeFi TVL surpassed $99B, over 9 instances bigger than the subsequent Layer 1, displaying dominant community adoption in decentralized finance.
Ethereum reported robust development throughout decentralized finance (DeFi) and stablecoin exercise in 2025.
This was primarily as a result of decrease transaction prices and increasing infrastructure contributed to elevated utilization throughout the community.
DeFi and Stablecoin Exercise Enhance
In a New Yr’s publish shared by way of X, the chain revealed that it recorded over $99 billion in complete worth locked throughout 2025, in line with information from DefiLlama. This determine locations Ethereum’s DeFi TVL at greater than 9 instances that of the subsequent largest Layer 1 ecosystem. Stablecoin utilization additionally remained excessive all year long, with $18.8 trillion settled on the community.
These figures coincided with a decline in transaction prices throughout the ecosystem. Charges on Ethereum Layer 1 fell to 5-year lows, whereas Layer 2 networks recorded transaction prices under $0.01, decreasing bills for funds, remittances, and savings-related exercise. On the similar time, expanded paymaster infrastructure enabled functions to cowl the charges for customers, usually eradicating the necessity to maintain ETH for gasoline.
Crypto platforms additionally expanded their use of Ethereum throughout 2025. Robinhood, Gemini, and Kraken all launched tokenized shares on the chain utilizing Layer 1 and Layer 2 networks, due to this fact offering prolonged entry to United States equities past normal market hours. Robinhood additionally introduced plans to construct its personal Layer 2 community utilizing Arbitrum’s Orbit expertise.
In the meantime, regulatory readability supported the launch of latest crypto-focused neobanks, which launched cost playing cards and rewards packages whereas reporting hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in every day spending quantity.
Community Upgrades and Ecosystem Growth
Past DeFi and stablecoins, Ethereum’s ecosystem continued to develop throughout institutional and technical fronts. Institutional participation elevated by way of the enlargement of ETH digital asset treasuries, with greater than $35 billion price of ETH held in exchange-traded funds and strategic reserves.
You may additionally like:
Moreover, extra establishments used Ethereum good contracts to handle capital on-chain, entry DeFi-based yield methods, and distribute over $12 billion in real-world belongings.
The community’s rollup-focused roadmap additionally progressed in the course of the 12 months. Mixed throughput throughout Layer 2 networks reached a median of 5,600 transactions per second, whereas the Fusaka improve, deployed in December, elevated blob capability and lowered Layer 2 prices. The Layer 1 gasoline restrict was additionally raised to 60 million, increasing settlement capability by roughly 33%.
Ethereum celebrated 10 years of being stay in July 2025, which was marked by a document of greater than 88 million good contracts deployed, whereas every day transactions reached a brand new excessive of 1.74 million. Developer exercise additionally remained elevated, with 32,000 energetic builders throughout the ecosystem and over 16,000 new ones becoming a member of between January and September.
SECRET PARTNERSHIP BONUS for CryptoPotato readers: Use this hyperlink to register and unlock $1,500 in unique BingX Alternate rewards (restricted time supply).
