Why does Ethereum still dominate DeFi and RWA?

The competition in the public chain sector has never stopped. Countless emerging chains have shouted slogans like "surpass Ethereum," but reality is often quite sobering.

Looking at the performance of other leading public chains makes this clear. The number of active traders on a high-performance chain’s DEX dropped from 4.8 million in January to 700,000, a decline of over 85%. Daily active users and transaction counts also plummeted, and on-chain ecosystem activity has significantly cooled down. Meanwhile, Ethereum has maintained steady growth momentum.

The reason behind this is very clear—differences in infrastructure strength.

In the DeFi space, Ethereum’s dominance is unmatched. About 63% of the total value locked (TVL) in DeFi, approximately $78.1 billion, flows into Ethereum, and 87% of DEX trading volume occurs on this chain. This isn’t achieved through marketing hype but through genuine market preference.

More importantly, the new sector of RWA (Real-World Asset Tokenization) has taken hold. Ethereum captures 53% of the market share, anchoring $9 billion in real assets. Especially in the tokenization of US bonds, 80% of projects choose to deploy on Ethereum. This precisely indicates that institutional-grade capital recognizes the security, liquidity, and compliance framework of the chain.

The same logic applies to the stablecoin ecosystem. Among over $300 billion in stablecoins across the entire network, 50% of euro stablecoins are rooted on Ethereum. This directly reflects that Ethereum has evolved from a purely speculative asset to a foundational infrastructure for digital finance.

Institutional actions further illustrate this point. ETF approvals, promising staking yields, and clearer regulatory frameworks—Ethereum has upgraded from a "high-risk speculative target" to a "must-have digital asset for institutions." This shift in recognition cannot be achieved by technical boasting alone.

Of course, the growth story on the chain is far from over. New trending MEME coins keep emerging, and community creativity constantly collides with capital. But regardless of short-term trends, Ethereum’s importance as a foundational layer remains unshaken.

A stable underlying infrastructure combined with continuous innovative applications—this is the core logic behind Ethereum’s ongoing leadership in the ecosystem.