The post Ethereum Reasserts Control of DeFi TVL as Competing Chains Struggle to Close the Gap appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com.

Sentora’s tweet landed like a cold splash of water across DeFi feeds on Thursday: “Ethereum DeFi TVL remains dominant, and has become increasingly dominant last year. Do you expect this trend to hold, or could other chains start catching up?” The chart he attached, a stacked share graphic from DeFiLlama, makes the point in one blunt visual: the blue representing Ethereum occupies far more of the picture than any other protocol family, and after the turbulence of 2021–2022, it has settled into a commanding share through 2023–2025. That rise didn’t happen by accident. Ethereum’s advantage stems from deep liquidity, an entrenched developer ecosystem, and the network effects of composability: things built on Ethereum can easily interoperate with a vast array of smart contracts, wallets, oracles and tooling. When large pools of assets sit in a chain’s protocols, market makers, yield aggregators and traders follow. Those flows, in turn, attract more builders and users, a virtuous circle that has been hard for rivals to break. The chart suggests two important phases. Early on, many chains carved out slices of the total-value-locked pie as cheaper, faster alternatives to Ethereum appeared. But in the most recent year shown, the blue band expands again, implying capital reconsolidation on Ethereum and on Ethereum-native Layer 2s. That consolidation reflects a broader industry recalibration: where once many actors chased low fees, they increasingly prioritized liquidity and security, and those qualities still tend to live where the bulk of assets and developer attention are. Still, dominance on a chart is not inevitability in practice. Competing chains and Layer 2 networks are not standing still. A number of rollups and alternative smart-contract platforms have spent the last two years improving developer tools, growing ecosystems, and carving out niche use-cases. Some have succeeded in attracting liquidity through aggressive incentives or…

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Filed under: News - @ January 1, 2026 11:00 pm