Author: Naly Source: moneyverse Translation: Shan Ouba, Jinse Finance
Ethereum's 2025 wasn't glamorous, but rather marked by maturity and stability.
Its total value locked ultimately settled at approximately $68.8 billion, a slight decrease of over 7% year-over-year. In previous cycles, this figure alone would have fueled widespread claims that "Ethereum is declining." But this time, such claims failed to resonate—because they ignored the real changes.
While the balance sheet hype has cooled, the network engine has become increasingly robust. In 2025, the Ethereum network generated over $4 billion in transaction fees, an increase of over 45% compared to 2024. This divergence is precisely the core narrative of this year: efficiency-driven ecosystem maturity.
Currently, a few protocols form the cornerstone of Ethereum's balance sheet.
Aave remains the core of DeFi's gravity, accounting for over 26% of the total value locked across the network. Following closely behind is Lido (slightly over 20%), and EigenLayer, which has quietly grown to approximately 10% through restaking. These three protocols alone account for more than half of the capital deployed on the Ethereum network. Beyond them, other protocols, while still possessing some liquidity, exhibit significant tiering. Binance's ETH staking products, EtherFi, Ethena, Sky, Spark, and Uniswap constitute the second tier of liquidity—relevant and active, but no longer the core force shaping the ecosystem. This is the true meaning of industry consolidation: capital is increasingly favoring familiarity, trust, and established distribution channels over blindly pursuing innovative experiments.
Despite a contraction in total value locked (TVL), Ethereum still generated over $4 billion in transaction fees this year, a 45% year-over-year increase. This divergence is one of the most significant features of 2025.
Ethereum holds less capital (or at least its value in USD), but its monetization efficiency for network activity has significantly improved. The network is realizing more value with less capital, marking a shift in the entire system from speculative expansion to sustainable use.
Three major protocols dominate the transaction fee ecosystem: Lido accounts for approximately 17% of Ethereum's total transaction fees, followed closely by Aave at 13%, and Sky contributes nearly 10%. Together, they generate nearly 40% of the network's economic throughput.
However, even within this dominant structure, changes are still visible. Although Lido and Uniswap remain at the top of the cumulative transaction fee rankings, their year-on-year transaction fee growth has slowed or even declined. Their market share hasn't collapsed, but it's being gradually eroded by faster-moving competitors.
If transaction fees are separated into actual agreement revenue, the industry ranking will change.
Uniswap remains the king of the swap space.
Lido remains a giant in the field.
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