We publish the same metric set every week so you can compare chains on equal footing instead of reading seven separate dashboards. This edition covers the seven days ending Sunday 20 September 2026.
Every figure below is derived from one shared dataset pulled from DefiLlama's public API, so the numbers in this report cannot disagree with the news review or the intelligence briefing published the same week. Stock metrics (TVL, stablecoin supply) are Sunday snapshots; flow metrics (DEX volume, fees) are weekly totals.
Quick answer
Which chain earned the most network fees during the week of Sep 14 - Sep 20, 2026? Solana, by a wide margin: $104.7m in weekly fees, down 3.3% from $108.3m, against a TVL base that grew 4.6% to $6.18bn — roughly 40% ahead of Ethereum's $74.8m while carrying about one-twelfth of its TVL. The week as a whole ran the opposite direction to last week: TVL rose 4.0% to $77.89B, but DEX volume rose only 2.4% to $46.31B and fees fell 8.9% to $219.1M, pulling blended turnover from 0.60x back to 0.59x — deposits grew while usage cooled.
1 Total Value Locked by chain
| Chain | TVL | Share | W/W | 4-wk avg | vs 4-wk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ethereum | $52.6B | 67.5% | +5.0% | $49.3B | +6.7% |
| TRON | $5.6B | 7.2% | +1.5% | $5.3B | +4.3% |
| BNB Chain | $5.7B | 7.4% | -3.9% | $5.7B | +0.5% |
| Solana | $6.2B | 7.9% | +4.6% | $5.8B | +6.1% |
| Base | $5.9B | 7.6% | +5.7% | $5.6B | +6.6% |
| Arbitrum | $1.4B | 1.8% | +2.1% | $1.4B | +2.0% |
| Optimism | $0.5B | 0.6% | +6.8% | $0.4B | +8.0% |
TVL growth was broad but led by the largest chains. Ethereum added about $2.5bn (+5.0%), Optimism rose 6.8%, Base 5.7%, Solana 4.6% and Arbitrum 2.1%; TRON gained a steady 1.5%. BNB Chain was the lone decliner at -3.9%. The late-August level shift is now well behind us — this was a week of deposit drift led by the chains that already hold the most, not a repricing event.
2 TVL trend, last six weeks
| Chain | 2026-08-16 | 2026-08-23 | 2026-08-30 | 2026-09-06 | 2026-09-13 | 2026-09-20 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ethereum | $41.1B | $48.7B | $49.0B | $49.3B | $50.1B | $52.6B |
| TRON | $4.8B | $5.2B | $5.2B | $5.4B | $5.5B | $5.6B |
| BNB Chain | $4.9B | $5.5B | $5.5B | $5.8B | $6.0B | $5.7B |
| Solana | $4.8B | $5.6B | $5.9B | $5.9B | $5.9B | $6.2B |
| Base | $4.6B | $5.4B | $5.5B | $5.7B | $5.6B | $5.9B |
| Arbitrum | $1.2B | $1.4B | $1.4B | $1.4B | $1.4B | $1.4B |
| Optimism | $0.3B | $0.4B | $0.4B | $0.4B | $0.4B | $0.5B |
The trend table now shows two elevated weeks stacked above the late-August plateau, and Ethereum's $52.58bn is a fresh high for the sample. The climb is steady and deposit-led rather than the single-step jump of late August, which is the more ordinary of the two shapes.
3 DEX spot volume and turnover
| Chain | DEX vol | Share | W/W | Turnover | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ethereum | $10.4B | 22.6% | +21.5% | 0.20 | 2 |
| TRON | $0.3B | 0.6% | +7.1% | 0.05 | 6 |
| BNB Chain | $7.8B | 16.8% | -22.0% | 1.36 | 3 |
| Solana | $19.8B | 42.8% | +7.4% | 3.21 | 1 |
| Base | $6.2B | 13.4% | -5.8% | 1.05 | 4 |
| Arbitrum | $1.5B | 3.3% | +34.8% | 1.06 | 5 |
| Optimism | $0.2B | 0.5% | +29.4% | 0.47 | 7 |
This is the table that defines the week in reverse. The two largest trading venues behaved differently: Solana held the top spot at $19.83bn (+7.4%) while Ethereum climbed 21.5% to $10.45bn and reclaimed the number-two position BNB Chain had taken two weeks ago. BNB Chain fell 22.0% to $7.80bn — a full unwind of its two-week surge — and Base slipped 5.8% to $6.20bn. The smaller venues, Arbitrum (+34.8%) and Optimism (+29.4%), grew fastest in percentage terms but from small bases.
Solana remains the largest single venue at roughly twice Ethereum's weekly volume, and its turnover reached 3.21x — capital turned over three times a week against Ethereum's 0.20x. Those two numbers describe different businesses, and this week they moved in the same direction: Ethereum's volume gain lifted its turnover, Solana's held flat.
4 DEX volume trend, last six weeks
| Chain | 2026-08-16 | 2026-08-23 | 2026-08-30 | 2026-09-06 | 2026-09-13 | 2026-09-20 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ethereum | $5.2B | $10.6B | $10.5B | $8.9B | $8.6B | $10.4B |
| TRON | $0.2B | $0.3B | $0.3B | $0.3B | $0.3B | $0.3B |
| BNB Chain | $6.1B | $9.1B | $7.0B | $9.2B | $10.0B | $7.8B |
| Solana | $10.7B | $19.4B | $18.2B | $16.1B | $18.5B | $19.8B |
| Base | $3.6B | $7.7B | $6.8B | $5.8B | $6.6B | $6.2B |
| Arbitrum | $0.5B | $2.0B | $1.4B | $1.3B | $1.1B | $1.5B |
| Optimism | $0.1B | $0.2B | $0.2B | $0.2B | $0.2B | $0.2B |
Six weeks of history shows BNB Chain's surge of two weeks ago has now fully reversed, while Ethereum's volume stepped up this week to its highest level in the window. The late-August spike remains the only larger move anywhere in the table, and everything since has been smaller oscillations around the new plateau.
5 Stablecoin supply by chain
| Chain | Stablecoins | Share | W/W | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ethereum | $147.4B | 52.0% | -0.3% | 1 |
| TRON | $94.0B | 33.2% | -0.2% | 2 |
| BNB Chain | $16.9B | 6.0% | -0.1% | 3 |
| Solana | $15.7B | 5.6% | -4.4% | 4 |
| Base | $5.0B | 1.8% | +0.8% | 5 |
| Arbitrum | $4.0B | 1.4% | -0.3% | 6 |
| Optimism | $0.6B | 0.2% | +12.2% | 7 |
Float contracted 0.5% to $283.57bn — a second consecutive weekly decline and the weakest stablecoin reading in our sample. Solana shed the most in percentage terms at -4.4% ($15.74bn), while TRON (-0.2% to $94.01bn) and Ethereum (-0.3% to $147.38bn) slipped modestly. Only Base (+0.8%) and Optimism (+12.2%, on a small base) grew.
The combination across the sample — float down for a second week, volume up only 2%, fees down 9% — is the opposite of week 3's healthy velocity configuration. The same dollars are being worked less, and the pool that funds trading is shrinking. That bounds activity: without a fresh injection, there is less liquidity to turn.
6 Stablecoin concentration
| Rank | Chain | Stablecoins | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ethereum | $147.4B | 52.0% |
| 2 | TRON | $94.0B | 33.2% |
| 3 | BNB Chain | $16.9B | 6.0% |
| 4 | Solana | $15.7B | 5.6% |
| 5 | Base | $5.0B | 1.8% |
| 6 | Arbitrum | $4.0B | 1.4% |
| 7 | Optimism | $0.6B | 0.2% |
Ethereum and TRON together hold 85.1% of the float in our sample — effectively unchanged. The headline float number remains a statement about two chains, and this week's decline is spread across Ethereum, TRON and Solana rather than concentrated in one.
7 Network fees
| Chain | Fees | W/W | Share | Fees / TVL |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ethereum | $74.8M | +0.4% | 34.1% | 0.142 |
| TRON | $2.0M | +5.3% | 0.9% | 0.036 |
| BNB Chain | $22.6M | -24.2% | 10.3% | 0.394 |
| Solana | $104.7M | -3.3% | 47.8% | 1.694 |
| Base | $11.4M | -47.2% | 5.2% | 0.193 |
| Arbitrum | $2.6M | -21.2% | 1.2% | 0.182 |
| Optimism | $1.0M | -9.1% | 0.5% | 0.213 |
Fees were the week's drag, down 8.9% to $219.1M. Solana remained the largest earner at $104.7m (-3.3%) on TVL that grew 4.6%, so its fee intensity per dollar of TVL eased slightly. Base's 47.2% collapse to $11.4m is almost entirely mean-reversion from last week's 68.8% spike — a roughly $10m gain that unwound. BNB Chain fell 24.2% to $22.6m and Arbitrum 21.2% to $2.6m; Ethereum was flat at $74.8m (+0.4%) and TRON rose 5.3% to $2.0m.
The structural gap remains: Solana earns about $16.9 of fees per $1,000 of TVL against Ethereum's $1.42 — roughly twelve times — but that ratio is now flat-to-easing rather than widening. Large percentage moves on small bases remain the caveat: Optimism's 9% drop is about $0.1m in absolute terms.
8 Turnover and capital efficiency
| Chain | Turnover (vol / TVL) | W/W | Weekly fees / TVL |
|---|---|---|---|
| Solana | 3.21x | +2.7% | 1.694% |
| BNB Chain | 1.36x | -18.9% | 0.394% |
| Arbitrum | 1.06x | +32.0% | 0.182% |
| Base | 1.05x | -10.9% | 0.193% |
| Optimism | 0.47x | +21.2% | 0.213% |
| Ethereum | 0.20x | +15.7% | 0.142% |
| TRON | 0.05x | +5.6% | 0.036% |
Blended turnover slipped 1.5% to 0.59x from 0.60x, ending last week's brief recovery. After a usage-led week, the ratio gave back its gain as deposits grew faster than trading.
The dispersion across chains remains enormous: Solana turns its TVL over 3.21 times a week against Ethereum's 0.20. Both moved this week — Solana up slightly, Ethereum up on its volume gain — so the gap is broadly stable rather than mean-reverting.
9 Composite scorecard
| Chain | TVL | DEX | Stables | Fees | Turnover | Avg rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Solana | 2 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1.8 |
| Ethereum | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 2.4 |
| BNB Chain | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3.0 |
| Base | 3 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4.0 |
| Arbitrum | 6 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 5.0 |
| TRON | 5 | 6 | 2 | 6 | 7 | 5.2 |
| Optimism | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 6.6 |
The scorecard rewards breadth, and this week breadth was on the deposit side: chains scored on TVL growth while usage metrics mostly fell. Solana and Ethereum top the table; BNB Chain's week was the inverse of the sample — TVL, volume and fees all down together.
10 Anomaly screen
| Chain | Metric | Current | 4-wk avg | z-score | Flag |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Optimism | Stablecoins | 0.55 | 0.48 | 7.05 | watch |
| Optimism | TVL | 0.47 | 0.43 | 6.06 | watch |
| Ethereum | TVL | 52.58 | 49.26 | 5.61 | watch |
| Arbitrum | TVL | 1.43 | 1.40 | 5.50 | watch |
| Base | TVL | 5.92 | 5.55 | 3.81 | watch |
| Solana | Stablecoins | 15.74 | 16.32 | -2.27 | watch |
| Base | Stablecoins | 5.02 | 4.96 | 2.09 | watch |
| Solana | TVL | 6.18 | 5.82 | 2.04 | watch |
| TRON | TVL | 5.58 | 5.35 | 1.67 | elevated |
| Ethereum | Fees | 74.80 | 73.95 | 1.56 | elevated |
| Optimism | Fees | 1.00 | 1.30 | -1.39 | elevated |
| TRON | Fees | 2.00 | 1.88 | 1.31 | elevated |
Twelve chain-metric pairs clear the two-standard-deviation threshold this week, up from two. The surge is an artefact of the baseline: the four-week window now includes the late-August level shift and several large weekly moves, so ordinary deposit growth reads as extreme. Ethereum's TVL (z = 5.61) and Optimism's stablecoin and TVL lines (z = 7.05 and 6.06) lead, but these are screens, not findings — they tell us where the baseline is contaminated, not what broke.
11 Comparison with the trailing four weeks
| Metric | Current | 4-wk avg | Delta | Delta % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TVL ($B) | 77.89 | 73.52 | 4.37 | +5.9% |
| DEX volume ($B) | 46.31 | 45.20 | 1.11 | +2.5% |
| Stablecoins ($B) | 283.57 | 284.25 | -0.68 | -0.2% |
| Fees ($M) | 219.10 | 213.07 | 6.03 | +2.8% |
TVL growth leaders this week: Solana (+4.6%), Base (+5.7%), TRON (+1.5%). Weakest TVL change: BNB Chain (-3.9%), Ethereum (+5.0%).
12 Concentration: how much sits in the top three
| Metric | Top three chains | Combined share | Largest | Largest w/w |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TVL | Ethereum, Solana, Base | 83.0% | $52.6B | +5.0% |
| DEX volume | Solana, Ethereum, BNB Chain | 82.2% | $19.8B | +7.4% |
| Stablecoin supply | Ethereum, TRON, BNB Chain | 91.1% | $147.4B | -0.3% |
| Network fees | Solana, Ethereum, BNB Chain | 92.2% | $104.7M | -3.3% |
Fee revenue and stablecoin float remain the most concentrated lines; TVL the least. This week's fee aggregate is more of a two-chain description than ever — Solana and Ethereum together account for well over three-quarters of it.
13 Deep dive: the three chains that moved the week
| Chain | TVL | Role | Strength | Watch item |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ethereum | $52.6B | Settlement and collateral | Largest absolute TVL gain; reclaimed #2 volume | Whether deposits convert to usage |
| BNB Chain | $5.7B | High-throughput trading | Gave back two-week surge: volume -22%, fees -24% | Whether the unwind finishes here |
| Solana | $6.2B | Execution and trading | Fee leader at $104.7m; stable float -4.4% | Whether the float decline continues |
Reading the sample through these three: Ethereum absorbed the most capital and turned some of it, BNB Chain unwound a surge we had treated as possibly durable, and Solana kept earning fees while its stablecoin float drained. The aggregate blended all three and described none of them.
14 Limitations of this report
- TVL can double-count recursive strategies, so treat levels as approximate and compare week-over-week changes rather than absolute values.
- DEX volume data comes from venue-reported series; wash trading is filtered inconsistently across chains.
- Stablecoin supply counts tokens resident on chain, which is not the same as economic ownership by users there.
- Network fee figures exclude application-level revenue, so chains hosting large application take-rates may be understated.
- A single base chain can move the ecosystem aggregate; always read the per-chain rows alongside the totals.
15 Formulas used in this report
16 What this means
The honest summary is that capital arrived and cooled. TVL rose 4.0% to $77.89B — its largest weekly gain since the late-August level shift — while DEX volume rose only 2.4%, fees fell 8.9%, and turnover slipped back to 0.59x — the reverse of last week's usage-led reading.
The question the data hands to next week is whether deposits convert into usage or just sit. Two consecutive weeks of stablecoin-float decline, against a TVL gain, means liquidity is leaving the trading layer even as collateral piles up. The chains that grew fees on flat TVL last week mostly gave those gains back — Base's 47% reversal is the clearest example.
For anyone allocating rather than trading, the turnover line is again the one to watch. Yields across lending and staking respond to capital velocity, and velocity fell this week everywhere except the chains that added deposits fastest.
Key Takeaways
- TVL rose 4.0% to $77.89B while DEX volume rose only 2.4% and fees fell 8.9%.
- Ethereum added the most capital, about $2.5bn (+5.0%) to a $52.58bn base.
- BNB Chain unwound its two-week surge: volume -22.0%, fees -24.2%, TVL -3.9%.
- Stablecoin float slipped 0.5% to $283.57B for a second straight decline; Solana fell 4.4%.
- Solana remained the fee leader at $104.7m (-3.3%) on TVL that grew 4.6%.
- Blended turnover slipped to 0.59x, ending last week's brief recovery.
17 The week in brief
This was a deposit week, not a usage week — the mirror image of last week and a repeat of the 31 August–6 September shape. Aggregate TVL rose 4.0% to $77.89B — its largest weekly gain since the late-August level shift — while every flow metric cooled: DEX volume crept up just 2.4% to $46.31B, network fees fell 8.9% to $219.1M, and blended turnover slipped from 0.60x to 0.59x. Stablecoin float contracted for a second straight week, down 0.5% to $283.57B.
Ethereum defined the deposit side. It added about $2.5bn (+5.0%) to a $52.58bn base, the largest absolute increase in the sample, and pushed above the $52bn mark for the first time in our sample. Optimism led on percentage (+6.8%), followed by Base (+5.7%) and Solana (+4.6%); Arbitrum rose 2.1% and TRON gained a steady 1.5%. BNB Chain was the only chain to fall, down 3.9% to $5.73bn — giving back part of the DEX-volume surge that had lifted it above Ethereum two weeks earlier.
Taken together, the pattern reverses last week's healthy velocity configuration: more capital parked, less of it traded, and the stablecoin float that funds trading shrinking for a second week. A deposit week is not a bad week — but it is the quieter of the two directions this series has shown.
18 The week in numbers
19 How this report is built
| Metric | Primary source | Cadence | Known limitation |
|---|---|---|---|
| TVL | DefiLlama /v2/historicalChainTvl | Sunday snapshot | Recursive strategies can double-count |
| DEX volume | DefiLlama /overview/dexs | Seven-day sum | Excludes wash trading inconsistently by venue |
| Stablecoin supply | DefiLlama stablecoincharts | Sunday snapshot | Counts float resident on chain, not ownership |
| Network fees | DefiLlama /overview/fees | Seven-day sum | Excludes application-level revenue |
| Turnover | Derived: volume / TVL | Weekly ratio | Sensitive to TVL valuation effects |
Sources & Methodology
- DefiLlama — Total Value Locked series (/v2/historicalChainTvl, daily snapshots per chain).
- DefiLlama — DEX spot volume series (/overview/dexs, daily observations per chain).
- DefiLlama — stablecoin supply (stablecoins.llama.fi/stablecoincharts, daily snapshots per chain).
- DefiLlama — network fees (/overview/fees, daily observations per chain).
- Derived: turnover (weekly DEX volume / TVL) and fee yield (weekly fees / TVL).
Headlines and figures on this page are drawn from the outlets listed above; commentary is clearly labelled opinion and is not investment advice. Last reviewed 2026-09-20.