DeFi TVL tops $99B, Stablecoin volume reaches $18.8T

Ethereum DeFi's TVL has surpassed $99B, more than nine times that of next-generation Layer 1, demonstrating dominant network adoption in decentralized finance.

Ethereum has shown strong growth in the 2025 Decentralized Finance (DeFi) and stablecoin movement.

This is mainly because lower transaction costs and infrastructure expansion have contributed to the use of the network.

DeFi and Stablecoin activity increase

In a New Year's post shared by X, data from Defillama shows that the chain has a total value of more than $99 billion locked in by 2025. This figure makes Ethereum DeFi TVL more than 9 times the next largest Layer 1 ecosystem. Stablecoin usage has also remained high throughout the year, with $18.8 trillion sitting on the network.

These figures are linked to a decline in transaction costs across the ecosystem. Fees on Ethereum's Layer 1 have dropped to a 5-year low, while Layer 2 networks have recorded transaction costs below $0.01, reducing costs for payments, remittances and savings-related activities. At the same time, the expanded payment infrastructure has allowed applications to cover payments to users, which often eliminates the need to hold ETH for gas.

Crypto platforms expand their use of Ethereum in 2025. Robinhood, Gemini, and Kraken all offer tokenized stocks on-chain using Layer 1 and Layer 2 networks, thus providing broad access to US stocks beyond regular market hours. Robinhood has announced plans to build its own Layer 2 network using Arbitrum's Orbit technology.

Meanwhile, regulatory transparency has supported the launch of new crypto-focused neobanks, which have introduced payment cards and reward programs with reported daily spend in the millions.

Network improvements and ecosystem expansion.

Beyond DeFi and stablecoins, the Ethereum ecosystem continues to expand on institutional and technical fronts. Institutional participation has increased with the proliferation of ETH digital asset treasuries, with more than $35 billion worth of ETH held by exchange-traded funds and strategic repositories.

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Additionally, more institutions use Ethereum smart contracts to manage capital on-chain, access DeFi-based profit strategies, and distribute more than $12 billion in real-world assets.

The network's package-based roadmap also saw progress during the year. Combined volume in Layer 2 networks has averaged 5,600 transactions per second, while the Fusaka update rolled out in December increased blob capacity and reduced Layer 2 costs. The limit of layer 1 gas has been increased to 60 million.

Ethereum celebrated 10 years of being live in July 2025, with more than 88 million smart contracts registered, with daily transactions reaching a new high of 1.74 million. Developer activity also increased, with 32,000 active developers on the ecosystem and more than 16,000 new ones joining between January and September.