CoinGecko of the top blockchains by Total Value Locked (TVL), a key DeFi metric showing assets staked in protocols. Ethereum maintains its dominance with a TVL of $62.4 billion, followed by Solana at $8.6 billion, and Bitcoin at $6.1 billion.
CoinGecko of the top blockchains by Total Value Locked (TVL), a key DeFi metric showing assets staked in protocols. Ethereum maintains its dominance with a TVL of $62.4 billion, followed by Solana at $8.6 billion, and Bitcoin at $6.1 billion.
Other notable platforms include BNB Chain ($5.9 billion), Tron ($4.8 billion), Base ($3.7 billion), Arbitrum ($2.4 billion), Sui Network ($1.7 billion), Avalanche ($1.5 billion), Aptos ($1.1 billion), Berachain ($1.0 billion), Polygon ($0.9 billion), and Sonic Labs ($0.8 billion).
Looking at the list, it’s easy to notice a few interesting tidbits. For starters, Solana has experienced a big surge in TVL, marking roughly an 800% increase over the past year. There are likely several factors to this, from the high-profile meme coins at the start of 2025 (for instance $TRUMP), to Solana’s stablecoin supply surpassing $10 billion also at the beginning of this year.
Another notable development is the fact that Bitcoin is in the top 3, or rather that its TVL is $6.1 billion. This is interesting because Bitcoin is not traditionally associated with DeFi nor is it a primary DeFi chain. Bitcoin’s current position is probably due to the emergence of Bitcoin Layer-2 solutions and wrapped BTC protocols which enable Bitcoin’s participation in DeFi activities.
Judging by the list, it seems that emerging chains like Aptos and Berachain signal rising competition in the Layer-1 space, showing that the newer blockchains are gaining traction.
By some accounts, the DeFi sector has shown growth in early 2025, with the total TVL across all platforms reaching $127 billion. Ethereum continues to lead, but the rise of platforms like Solana indicates a diversifying ecosystem.
Solana is on a rapid ascent fueled by meme coin popularity and stablecoin adoption, but seeing as meme coins aren’t that popular at the moment, we’ll have to see how much growth there will be in the future. Still, Solana has platforms such as Raydium (a decentralized exchange) that notably contribute to its TVL.
In any case, as the DeFi space evolves and the newer platforms continue to challenge established ones, we just may see some new changes next time a similar list pops up.
