Ethereum (ETH) may seem underwhelming at first glance, but there is more than meets the eye.
As markets focus on fragile short-term price performance, Ethereum dominates on-chain activity and attracts big players. The gap is growing and attention needs to be paid to the reasons why.
Ethereum, the king of DeFi
The Ethereum mainnet alone controls around 68% of the total DeFi TVL, which is well ahead of all other chains. Even in the fall of 2022, its stock has never fully broken out. The network dropped to almost 45% before recovering through 2024 and 2025.
Source: DeFiLlama
What’s more telling is the bigger picture.
Although DeFiLlama’s aforementioned data includes Ethereum’s L2s like Arbitrum (ARB), Optimism (OP), and Base, its share is well over 70% when excluding this competition.
There’s more!
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Tom Lee’s Bitmine staked 74,880 ETH worth $219 million. So there is great confidence in the long-term growth of Ethereum.
Meanwhile, SharpLink Gaming repurchased 35,627 ETH – a sign that institutional moves are becoming more active and tactical.
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This corresponds to the big trend. Ethereum’s share in DeFi has not weakened despite the capital turnover. Instead, big players learn to work within the system.
What drives the price talk?
While its fundamentals anchor Ethereum, price action is influenced elsewhere… in derivatives.
Source: Cryptoquant
In 2025, ETH Futures activity reached record levels. Binance alone recorded over $6.7 trillion in ETH futures volume, nearly double last year.
Other exchanges like OKX, Bybit and Bitget followed the same pattern, confirming that speculation has accelerated.
Source: Cryptoquant
The imbalance is quite striking. According to analyst Darkfost on X, for every dollar of spot ETH, almost $5 is invested in futures contracts.
This level of leverage explains why price movements appear chaotic and unstable, even though Ethereum’s fundamentals remain steadfast.
Final Thoughts
- Ethereum controls 68% of DeFi TVL and 70% with L2s.
- The price of ETH is driven by record leverage, explaining the volatility and market disconnect.
