BROAD ADOPTION

Our broad adoption analysis prioritizes indicators less directly influenced by crypto-asset prices: Daily Active Addresses (DAA), transaction count, stablecoin supply and real-world asset (RWA) AUM. TVL, DEX and perpetuals volume, lending activity and fees provide complementary comparisons across chains and protocols. None is a perfect measure of organic adoption.

Hyperliquid is excluded from the broad-chain comparison to avoid conflating its trading-led origins with general-purpose networks. Its expanding HyperEVM ecosystem is considered separately in our chain-level lending analysis; perpetuals activity is covered in our dedicated DeFi report.

Source: DefiLlama

Daily Active Addresses (DAA) show a clear year-on-year uptrend. Tron (purple) is a major contributor in 2026, consistent with its established role in USDT transfers and settlement. BSC (yellow) has been comparatively stable, while Solana (blue) has been more sensitive to market cycles, potentially reflecting shifts in memecoin and other speculative activity since Q3 2025. Both BSC and Solana show renewed strength entering Q4 2026. Addresses are not unique individuals, and automated activity can affect the series.

Source: DefiLlama

Transaction count presents a longer-term growth story, led by Solana (deep blue), whose low fees and high throughput support frequent activity. Its reported 2026 year-to-date transactions are approximately 22% above the entire 2025 total in the chart, despite two months remaining in the year. Sui, BSC and Aptos are prominent challengers, with Sui currently ahead in this dataset. Transaction definitions vary by chain: Solana’s Alpenglow consensus upgrade on 21 October 2026 removed on-chain validator voting, making pre- and post-upgrade headline counts less directly comparable.

Source: DefiLlama

Stablecoin supply has expanded structurally, although growth appears subdued in much of 2026. Weak crypto-market conditions may be one contributor, alongside changes in liquidity and payments demand. Ethereum (green) remains the principal issuance and liquidity venue, while Tron (purple) is a major USDT transfer network. Distribution beyond crypto trading is developing: Visa Direct moved stablecoin prefunding into commercial production in October 2026. Such integrations support the longer-term thesis, but do not by themselves demonstrate immediate supply growth.

Source: DefiLlama

Source: DefiLlama

RWA AUM began scaling more visibly in 2024 and has continued expanding across chains and asset classes. Ethereum (amber) remains a core venue, while other networks have gained traction. Tokenized government securities and money-market products have been important growth drivers; private credit, commodities and equities also form part of the expanding opportunity, without following a single chronological sequence. Ondo’s January 2026 launch of 200+ tokenized stocks and ETFs on Solana and Robinhood Chain’s July mainnet launch illustrate growing product availability. The SEC’s September 2026 conditional relief for certain tokenized-stock venues may further support market infrastructure. Issuance and product launches should not be confused with net inflows or active AUM growth. We remain early in this adoption cycle.

BASE CHAINS

We next compare major chains by their share of DAA, transactions, stablecoin supply, RWA AUM, TVL, DEX volume, lending TVL and chain fees. The goal is to identify improving ecosystem traction and potential investment opportunities, recognizing that these metrics capture different types of adoption and are not uniformly comparable across chains.

Source: DefiLlama

Tron leads the selected chains in DAA, with Solana second and BSC third. USDT transfer activity is a plausible contributor to Tron’s scale. Ethereum and the broader Ethereum ecosystem—including rollups Base and Arbitrum, alongside Polygon PoS—retain a meaningful presence. TON and Sui have gained share since Q1 2026, while Aptos, Avalanche and Stellar have lost share over the past two quarters in this dataset. BNB Chain’s Lorentz and Maxwell upgrades reduced block times during 2025, improving capacity for future activity without establishing that upgrades alone drove address growth.

Source: DefiLlama

Solana accounts for approximately 51% of reported transactions among the selected chains, reinforcing its leadership in high-frequency network activity rather than establishing overall L1 dominance. As the ecosystem matures, greater TVL and stablecoin issuance could broaden its economic footprint. Sui ranks second in this chart. Its Programmable Transaction Blocks and low-cost execution enable varied activity, including automation, but the chart alone cannot establish how much represents organic economic usage. Cross-chain transaction comparisons require caution, particularly around Solana’s October 2026 validator-vote accounting change.

Source: DefiLlama

Ethereum maintains the largest share of stablecoin supply, consistent with its deep liquidity and settlement infrastructure. Tron ranks second, supported by widespread USDT transfers and payments. We expect other chains to gain share as payment integrations and tokenized assets expand. Traditional payment networks are increasingly exploring multi-chain stablecoin settlement, although announced support should not be equated with realized on-chain volumes. Growing RWA supply could also create more opportunities for spot trading and collateral use, but higher DEX or perp volumes are not automatic.

Source: DefiLlama

RWA tokenization appears to have strong product-market fit after stablecoins, particularly for assets that benefit from broader distribution and faster settlement. Ethereum’s share has eased as other chains expand, even as its absolute AUM can continue growing. We expect some asset classes to cluster around chains with the strongest distribution and infrastructure. Solana, for example, represents approximately 17% of tokenized equity AUM in the chart versus less than 8% of overall RWA AUM; the denominators and coverage should be checked before treating those percentages as directly comparable. Ondo’s Solana expansion and Robinhood’s tokenization initiatives support this diversification thesis.

Source: DefiLlama

Ethereum has retained the largest TVL share for several years, with no decisive reversal visible in the chart. Beneath that lead, Solana and Base have steadily gained: Solana moves from approximately 2.9% in January 2024 to 7.3% currently, and Base from 0.9% to 7.8%. The chart also shows Robinhood Chain emerging rapidly, at approximately 1.5% of tracked TVL share. Its July 2026 mainnet launch provides a clear timing catalyst. TVL is measured in USD, however, so changes can reflect token prices as well as net capital deployment.

Source: DefiLlama

DEX volume complements transaction count by showing the dollar value of spot trading rather than the number of blockchain transactions. In the selected chart, Solana leads Ethereum in aggregate DEX volume while also generating more transactions. This does not establish which chain has the larger average trade size: that would require DEX trade counts, not total network transactions. Differences also reflect trading mix, automated activity and each chain’s data conventions. Together, the metrics provide a useful—but incomplete—picture of trading intensity.

Source: DefiLlama

Ethereum remains the leading lending ecosystem, while Base and Solana have grown lending TVL over the past two years. Lending markets may take longer to deepen than basic transfer or trading activity, though this is not universal. Coinbase’s integration of Morpho-powered borrowing on Base is an example of established distribution channels bringing capital into on-chain lending. Hyperliquid’s HyperEVM ecosystem also warrants attention: the chart attributes approximately 2.67% of lending TVL to Hyperliquid, with applications such as HyperLend and Morpho expanding its use beyond perpetuals. Lending TVL indicates deposited capital, not necessarily outstanding loan demand.

Source: DefiLlama

We use chain fees primarily as a signal of demand for blockspace, not as a standalone valuation measure. Fees reflect both activity and the price of execution; lower gas costs can therefore coincide with stronger adoption. Chain fees are also distinct from application fees and from the portion of fees captured as chain or protocol revenue. Tokenholder economics require separate analysis.

Ethereum’s declining share of chain fees may partly reflect improved gas efficiency and activity moving to lower-cost execution environments; it cannot be attributed to cheaper gas alone. Solana’s fee share has been comparatively stable since early 2024, although the October 2026 consensus change affects validator-vote fees and warrants a break-in-series caveat. Robinhood Chain appears to have risen rapidly after launch; its ability to sustain fee generation beyond initial activity will be a more meaningful test of adoption.

Solana Foundation, Alpenglow upgrade and October 21 mainnet activation — https://solana.com/upgrades/alpenglow

Visa, stablecoin-powered Visa Direct production rollout (October 15, 2026) — https://corporate.visa.com/en/sites/visa-perspectives/newsroom/visa-direct-moves-stablecoin-pilots-production.html

Robinhood, Robinhood Chain mainnet announcement (July 1, 2026) — https://robinhood.com/newsroom/robinhood-accelerates-global-expansion-robinhood-chain-mainnet-stock-tokens-agentic-trading/

Ondo, tokenized stocks and ETFs on Solana (January 21, 2026) — https://ondo.finance/blog/global-markets-live-on-solana

US Securities and Exchange Commission, conditional tokenized-equity venue relief (September 17, 2026) — https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2026-09-22/html/2026-19388.htm

BNB Chain, Maxwell and Lorentz throughput upgrades — https://www.bnbchain.org/en/blog/bnb-chain-announces-maxwell-hardfork-bsc-moves-to-0-75-second-block-times

Coinbase, Morpho-powered on-chain borrowing — https://www.coinbase.com/borrow

DefiLlama, metric definitions — https://enterprise.defillama.com/data-definitions