Sentora, the on-chain analysis company, spent a new debate this week when the tweeted that “Ethereum now owns 62% of Defi TVL, with dominance since April.” De Korte Post, and the question that followed, catches a well-known tug of war in crypto markets: is this a renewed, sustainable return to Ethereum dominance, or a temporary concentration that can break down faster/cheaper rivals?
Data from Defi -Aggregators show why the claim of Sentora receives attention. The Dashboards from Defillama set the total Defi value on Locked (TVL) on chains in the range of around $ 150 billion, while Ethereum currently only shows $ 92 billion parked in Defi contracts, a figure that has risen sharply since April and that is in the same ballpark as 62% dominance -call. That combination of an emerging absolute TVL on Ethereum and a still founded worldwide TVL explains the dominance percentage.
Part of the inflow on the chain is driven by a tree in liquid expansion, protocols with which ETH holders can earn yields and at the same time hold a liquid claim through derived tokens. Liquid Strike TVL recently became new records, with Headline platforms (among them) good for a meaningful part of the new TVL from Ethereum. Analysts point to this sector as an important reason why the Defi share of Ethereum has risen so quickly.
The renewed interest in Ethereum does not take place in a vacuum. This month, ETH has traded in the $ 4,500 series, reduced the majority of last year’s lost land and institutional and retail liquidity to on-chain products and stake vehicles. Price strength has the tendency to strengthen TVL streams (more Fiat on slopes, larger positions that have been moved on-chain), and that Feedbackklus has helped Ethereum in the re-concentration of capital in Defi.
Why the lead of Ethereum looks sustainable
There are structural reasons why Ethereum remains the go-t for Defi. Defi protocols benefit, for example, when they can communicate freely, AMMs, credit markets and liquid stacks work best where capital and composability are the deepest. In addition, the rise of the use of liquids with ETH-memorized capital that is available for Defi without locking the assets away.
Despite alternatives, most major Defi projects and the largest liquidity pools remain built or anchored to Ethereum. This dynamic makes it easier for Ethereum to switch on and keep large shares of TVL as soon as the momentum starts, especially in a bull phase or when drawing up yields and yields of liquid products are attractive.
That said, the landscape is far from static. Layer-2 networks (arbitrum, optimism, base and others) and other L1s (Solana, BNB chain, Tron, etc.) continue to attract users with lower costs and fast finality. In the past year, many of these chains have launched ecosystem stimuli, deepened Dex/Lending offers and created UX improvements that rely on retail and mobile users. Various chains now appear in the top ten by TVL, and streams can tilt quickly if a large new product (or opportunities) from Ethereum is created.
A practical point: Dominance measured if a percentage can move, even if Ethereum TVL remains flat; If other chains add or lose, the percentage moves. This means that small competitive profit on multiple chains can erode a majority of one chain over time, even without an immediate collapse of the liquidity of Ethereum. The tweet from Sentora marked a real and resulting shift: Ethereum seems to have regained an impressive share of Defi TVL in recent months.
This movement is partially powered by liquid growth and renewed price/liquidity flows. But the crypto landscape is competitive. Low-2s and alternative L1s are steadily improving their product suites and user experience, which means that Ethereum’s lead is useful today, but not inviolable tomorrow. The following months of flows, especially in L2S and the use of liquids, will tell us whether the 62% figure is the start of a long -term trend or a cyclical concentration.
