Key takeaways
- Ethereum’s DeFi TVL share fell from 63.5% to 53% between January 2025 and May 2026.
- Defillama data shows that Ethereum holds around $45 billion in TVL, while Solana and BNB Chain are gaining ground.
- Layer 2 chains like Base (5.31% TVL share) are reshaping Ethereum’s multi-chain footprint.
Rival channels close the gap
In absolute terms, Ethereum still holds the largest Challenge stack on any channel, with around $45.50 billion in TVL. But the erosion of shares tells a different story since competition blockchains absorbed capital at a faster rate, diversifying ChallengeIt is liquidity footprint across a growing set of networks.
According to the ranking of Defillama channels, Solana holds 6.76% of the total Challenge TVL, followed closely by BNB Chain at 6.55%, Bitcoin at 6.16%, Tron at 6.01%, Base at 5.31% and Hyperliquid at 1.82%. No single rival comes close to Ethereum in absolute size, but the cumulative change is significant, with the combined share of non-Ethereum chains now standing at around 47% of the global market. Challenge walk.
The factors behind Ethereum’s decline in share are well established, namely falling transaction costs on competing networks, the maturation of Ethereum-aligned Layer 2 chains that move TVL away from the mainnet, and the growth of native DeFi ecosystems on Solana And BNB Channel in particular. Protocols like Jupiter, Raydium and Kamino on Solanaand Pancakeswap on BNB Chain, have attracted billions of liquidity that could previously have defaulted to Ethereum.
The layer 2 factor deserves special attention because much of what is built for Ethereum, including Base, Arbitrum, and Optimism, installs on Ethereum but registers as a separate chain in DeFi analytics dashboards. If Layer 2 TVL were consolidated under the Ethereum umbrella, the network’s effective share would be significantly higher.
The timing of this data is notable given that Ethereum has faced sustained narrative pressure through mid-2026, with ongoing debates over the trajectory of its fee revenue, the pace of its development roadmap, and increased competition from faster, cheaper chains.
The broader multi-chain focus also appears to be structural, with Jesse Pollak, creator of Base, capturing the prevailing sentiment in a May 9 article, stating: “putting all financial instruments on chain.” Whether this takes place on the Ethereum mainnet, its layer 2 ecosystem, or on rival chains remains the defining question for DeFi’s next phase of growth.
