In this monthly report, we monitor on-chain adoption across the DeFi ecosystem. We assess each token's relative adoption within selected categories to identify potentially attractive investment opportunities. Adoption share, combined with growth trends, helps us assess the likely direction of future adoption. Both token coverage and metrics are curated to provide meaningful comparisons within each category. Market-share comparisons use fixed, curated baskets of protocols, with constituents reviewed every 3–6 months. Reported shares therefore represent relative adoption within the selected universe, not the entire market.

Ecosystems

As the DeFi sector grows, dominant incumbents are increasingly expanding beyond their primary verticals to attract more capital and improve capital efficiency. Targeted diversification can also help ecosystems protect their capital base as markets evolve and give them time to respond to share losses in individual categories. We monitor these ecosystems through combined TVL to assess their broader capital footprint beyond their original verticals. TVL shares are calculated within the selected ecosystem basket. Full Analysis

Originally focused on decentralized lending, Aave expanded into stablecoin issuance with GHO in July 2023 and institutional RWA-backed lending through Aave Horizon in August 2025. Hyperliquid, initially a perpetual futures exchange, expanded into spot trading before introducing prediction markets through HIP-4 in May 2026 and native collateralized borrowing in September 2026. Sky, formerly MakerDAO, expanded beyond DAI stablecoin issuance into lending through SparkLend in 2023, alongside savings products, cross-chain liquidity allocation and RWA investments during 2023–2025. Uniswap, originally a general-purpose AMM, expanded into intent-based trading and liquidity aggregation through UniswapX in July 2023, followed by external liquidity integration through Uniswap v4 Aggregator Hooks in October 2026. PancakeSwap, initially an AMM, diversified into prediction markets in April 2021, subsequently adding perpetual futures, token launchpads, DEX aggregation and tokenized RWA trading, with further expansion through 2025–2026.

Perpetuals

Perpetuals volume bottomed in July 2026 and has since expanded month over month, with Hyperliquid leading the selected basket. The longer-term trend is striking: monthly perps volume in October 2026 was approximately nine times its October 2025 level. Despite bearish crypto prices, the category has maintained a strong underlying floor in adoption activity.

As in any rapidly growing sector, new entrants are bringing competitive technologies and features to market. Despite Hyperliquid's dominance of volume within our selected perps basket, Variational, Lighter, and Aster have captured meaningful shares. This is not necessarily a negative signal; it can also indicate category maturation. Major blockchains are likely to compete for a share of this market given the established product-market fit. The experience of dYdX illustrates how quickly an incumbent's adoption position can weaken as new competitors emerge.

Options

Compared with perpetuals, crypto options remain less mature but appear to be gaining momentum in 2026. Derive is currently the dominant protocol within our selected options basket, although new competitors may emerge as adoption expands. The chart above shows options premium volume; we also monitor open interest and notional volume to assess competitive trends more comprehensively.

DEXs (General-purpose AMMs)

DEXs have been among the more stable categories over time, with the relative mix of activity across the selected general-purpose AMMs changing less dramatically than in some other sectors. Uniswap, PancakeSwap, and Aero lead our selected AMM basket by trading volume. Fluctuations in monthly volume are partly influenced by the USD value of assets traded; price-adjusted measures could help isolate changes in underlying trading activity.

After a modest loss of dominance in late 2024, Uniswap has regained volume share within our selected AMM basket over the following two years. PancakeSwap has broadly retained second place, while Aerodrome has steadily increased its share in 2026. Raydium and Meteora, meanwhile, have lost share since mid-2025. Raydium was particularly affected by Pump.fun launching PumpSwap, which diverted a major source of memecoin-related trading activity from Raydium.

DEXs (Proprietary AMMs)

Proprietary AMMs (Prop AMMs) use professionally managed, restricted liquidity and dynamically adjusted pricing to execute trades. By contrast, general-purpose AMMs typically permit public liquidity provision through permissionless pools using automated pricing mechanisms. Although Prop AMM trading volumes have broadly followed general-purpose AMM activity, the segment's underlying TVL has expanded significantly over the past two years. As liquidity deepens, more aggregator order flow may be routed to Prop AMMs, presenting stronger competition for general-purpose AMMs in spot trading.

Competition among Prop AMMs is intensifying. Within our selected basket, Metric currently leads, while FermiSwap is also gaining adoption. BisonFi, which led until October, moved into second place as Metric overtook it in November.

DEX Aggregators

DEX aggregator volume is strongly correlated with AMM trading volume, but aggregators appear to capture relatively greater activity during bull markets. One possible explanation is increased speculative trading in less liquid pairs, where aggregators can offer more competitive execution across fragmented liquidity sources. This remains a hypothesis rather than a confirmed causal relationship.

Jupiter has retained its lead in DEX aggregator volume within our selected basket, while Uniswap has rapidly climbed to second place following the expansion of its aggregation capabilities through Uniswap v4 Aggregator Hooks, complementing its established AMM business. 1inch currently ranks third within the basket and has maintained a relatively stable volume share.

Lending

Lending has shown relatively sustained growth, with its activity and capital base moving broadly in line with overall DeFi TVL. Aave and Morpho lead our selected lending basket, while the remaining share is fragmented across other covered protocols.

Aave's share of TVL within our selected lending basket declined sharply in April 2026 following the Kelp DAO rsETH exploit, which triggered substantial liquidity withdrawals and the unwinding of leveraged positions. Despite the decline in TVL share, Aave's underlying lending-market position remained relatively resilient. Morpho and JustLend have gained TVL share within the basket in recent months.