- Total value locked (TVL) is one indicator of DeFi demand.
- Ethereum now has $180 billion in DeFi TVL.
When it comes to functionality, Bitcoin and Ethereum are never compared. The only distinction is Ethereum’s smart contracts functionality. But every other smart contract technology has been considered an Ethereum killer at some point.
But not in 2021. The DeFi ecosystem reclassified protocols, and the usefulness of smart contracts was further appreciated. The name “Ethereum killer” gained momentum, but will it be obsolete in the future?
Ever since EOS and Tezos ICOs, a constant stream of rival smart contract platforms has been called “Ethereum killers,” putting them against one another. The success of Solana, Avalanche and other alternative layers 1 protocols in 2021 did not necessarily come at the price of Ethereum. Deploying apps on all chains is prospering the ecosystems.
Ethereum Still Leads
Total value locked (TVL) is one indicator of DeFi demand, and the most popular chains have all grown rather than competed. Ethereum has $21 billion in DeFi at the start of 2021. Accounting for 97% of the multi-chain ecosystem. By June 1, Ethereum’s DeFi TVL had grown to $85.6 billion but only represented 73.2% of the whole ecosystem, thanks to Polygon and Binance Smart Chain.
Ethereum now has $180 billion in DeFi TVL, but its control has dwindled to 66%. In the medium term, it is believed supremacy is less relevant. As Ethereum tries to grow massively with Arbitrum, Optimism, Polygon, and others. These other chains are not “Ethereum killers,” since Ethereum TVL rose approximately 9x, while its native token gained just 5.9x.
