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 13 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 7 - Sep 13, 2026? Solana, by a wide margin: $108.3m in weekly fees, up 28.5% from $84.3m, against a TVL base that held flat at $5.91bn — roughly 45% ahead of Ethereum's $74.5m while carrying about one-eighth of its TVL. The week as a whole finally ran the healthy direction: TVL rose 1.2% to $74.87B, but DEX volume rose faster at +8.2% to $45.21B and fees jumped 17.4% to $240.5m, lifting blended turnover from 0.56x to 0.60x — usage grew faster than deposits.
1 Total Value Locked by chain
| Chain | TVL | Share | W/W | 4-wk avg | vs 4-wk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ethereum | $50.1B | 66.9% | +1.5% | $47.0B | +6.5% |
| TRON | $5.5B | 7.3% | +1.3% | $5.2B | +6.3% |
| BNB Chain | $6.0B | 8.0% | +2.2% | $5.4B | +9.7% |
| Solana | $5.9B | 7.9% | +0.0% | $5.5B | +6.5% |
| Base | $5.6B | 7.5% | -1.1% | $5.3B | +5.5% |
| Arbitrum | $1.4B | 1.9% | -0.7% | $1.4B | +2.9% |
| Optimism | $0.4B | 0.6% | +0.0% | $0.4B | +8.6% |
TVL growth was real but narrow. BNB Chain led at +2.2%, with Ethereum adding about $0.76bn (+1.5%) on the largest base and TRON +1.3%. Two chains were flat to two decimal places — Solana and Optimism — while Base (-1.1%) and Arbitrum (-0.7%) gave back small amounts. Nothing here resembles the late-August level shift; this was a week of ordinary drift.
2 TVL trend, last six weeks
| Chain | 2026-08-09 | 2026-08-16 | 2026-08-23 | 2026-08-30 | 2026-09-06 | 2026-09-13 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ethereum | $41.8B | $41.1B | $48.7B | $49.0B | $49.3B | $50.1B |
| TRON | $4.8B | $4.8B | $5.2B | $5.2B | $5.4B | $5.5B |
| BNB Chain | $4.9B | $4.9B | $5.5B | $5.5B | $5.8B | $6.0B |
| Solana | $4.8B | $4.8B | $5.6B | $5.9B | $5.9B | $5.9B |
| Base | $4.7B | $4.6B | $5.4B | $5.5B | $5.7B | $5.6B |
| Arbitrum | $1.2B | $1.2B | $1.4B | $1.4B | $1.4B | $1.4B |
| Optimism | $0.3B | $0.3B | $0.4B | $0.4B | $0.4B | $0.4B |
The trend table now carries a longer view of the late-August jump, and this week's column sits modestly above the elevated plateau rather than extending it. Ethereum's $50.06bn is the first weekly close above $50bn in the sample — worth noting, but it is a rounding-distance milestone on top of a repricing event, not a new deposit regime.
3 DEX spot volume and turnover
| Chain | DEX vol | Share | W/W | Turnover | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ethereum | $8.6B | 19.0% | -3.5% | 0.17 | 3 |
| TRON | $0.3B | 0.6% | -15.2% | 0.05 | 6 |
| BNB Chain | $10.0B | 22.1% | +8.6% | 1.68 | 2 |
| Solana | $18.5B | 40.8% | +14.9% | 3.12 | 1 |
| Base | $6.6B | 14.6% | +13.8% | 1.18 | 4 |
| Arbitrum | $1.1B | 2.5% | -13.2% | 0.80 | 5 |
| Optimism | $0.2B | 0.4% | -5.6% | 0.39 | 7 |
This is the table that defines the week. Three of seven chains grew volume — Solana +14.9% to $18.46bn, Base +13.8% to $6.58bn, BNB Chain +8.6% to $10.00bn — while Ethereum slipped 3.5% to $8.60bn and Arbitrum fell to $1.12bn (-13.2%). The ecosystem total rose $3.44bn on roughly $1bn of losses across the decliners.
Solana remains the largest single venue, now more than twice Ethereum's weekly volume, and its turnover reached 3.12x — the same capital turned over three times a week against Ethereum's 0.17x. Those two numbers describe different businesses, and this week they moved in opposite directions.
4 DEX volume trend, last six weeks
| Chain | 2026-08-09 | 2026-08-16 | 2026-08-23 | 2026-08-30 | 2026-09-06 | 2026-09-13 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ethereum | $5.7B | $5.2B | $10.6B | $10.5B | $8.9B | $8.6B |
| TRON | $0.2B | $0.2B | $0.3B | $0.3B | $0.3B | $0.3B |
| BNB Chain | $8.9B | $6.1B | $9.1B | $7.0B | $9.2B | $10.0B |
| Solana | $10.6B | $10.7B | $19.4B | $18.2B | $16.1B | $18.5B |
| Base | $3.9B | $3.6B | $7.7B | $6.8B | $5.8B | $6.6B |
| Arbitrum | $0.9B | $0.5B | $2.0B | $1.4B | $1.3B | $1.1B |
| Optimism | $0.1B | $0.1B | $0.2B | $0.2B | $0.2B | $0.2B |
Six weeks of history shows Base ending the window well above where it began — $3.9bn to $6.6bn — even after giving back part of the late-August spike. BNB Chain's trajectory is choppier — a large spike last week that this week consolidated into a further gain rather than collapsed, which is the more interesting of the two.
5 Stablecoin supply by chain
| Chain | Stablecoins | Share | W/W | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ethereum | $147.9B | 51.9% | -0.4% | 1 |
| TRON | $94.2B | 33.1% | +0.4% | 2 |
| BNB Chain | $16.9B | 5.9% | -0.4% | 3 |
| Solana | $16.5B | 5.8% | -1.0% | 4 |
| Base | $5.0B | 1.7% | +1.0% | 5 |
| Arbitrum | $4.0B | 1.4% | +2.8% | 6 |
| Optimism | $0.5B | 0.2% | +0.0% | 7 |
Float contracted slightly for the first time in four weeks, down 0.1% to $284.91bn. TRON added the most in absolute terms, about $400m, and Arbitrum gained roughly $110m. Ethereum lost the most, about $590m, with Solana down roughly $160m and BNB Chain about $70m.
The combination across the sample — float flat, volume up 8%, fees up 17% — is the healthiest configuration we have published: the same dollars are being worked harder. The caveat runs the other way too. If float keeps shrinking while volume grows, the activity is drawing down a fixed pool of liquidity.
6 Stablecoin concentration
| Rank | Chain | Stablecoins | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ethereum | $147.9B | 51.9% |
| 2 | TRON | $94.2B | 33.1% |
| 3 | BNB Chain | $16.9B | 5.9% |
| 4 | Solana | $16.5B | 5.8% |
| 5 | Base | $5.0B | 1.7% |
| 6 | Arbitrum | $4.0B | 1.4% |
| 7 | Optimism | $0.5B | 0.2% |
Ethereum and TRON together hold 85.0% of the float in our sample — unchanged from last week. The headline float number remains a statement about two chains, and this week's small decline is entirely an Ethereum story.
7 Network fees
| Chain | Fees | W/W | Share | Fees / TVL |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ethereum | $74.5M | +1.8% | 31.0% | 0.149 |
| TRON | $1.9M | -5.0% | 0.8% | 0.035 |
| BNB Chain | $29.8M | +6.4% | 12.4% | 0.500 |
| Solana | $108.3M | +28.5% | 45.0% | 1.832 |
| Base | $21.6M | +68.8% | 9.0% | 0.386 |
| Arbitrum | $3.3M | +10.0% | 1.4% | 0.236 |
| Optimism | $1.1M | -31.2% | 0.5% | 0.250 |
Fees were the week's engine. Solana posted $108.3m (+28.5%), the largest weekly total we have recorded on any tracked chain, against flat TVL. Base jumped 68.8% to $21.6m and BNB Chain rose 6.4% to $29.8m. Only Optimism fell materially, to about $1.1m (-31.2%) on a small base.
Solana's fee intensity is now extreme by any measure: about $18.3 of fees per $1,000 of TVL against Ethereum's $1.49 — roughly twelve times, up from about ten times last week. Large percentage gains on small bases remain the caution: Optimism's 31% drop is about $0.5m in absolute terms.
8 Turnover and capital efficiency
| Chain | Turnover (vol / TVL) | W/W | Weekly fees / TVL |
|---|---|---|---|
| Solana | 3.12x | +14.9% | 1.832% |
| BNB Chain | 1.68x | +6.2% | 0.500% |
| Base | 1.18x | +15.1% | 0.386% |
| Arbitrum | 0.80x | -12.6% | 0.236% |
| Optimism | 0.39x | -5.6% | 0.250% |
| Ethereum | 0.17x | -4.9% | 0.149% |
| TRON | 0.05x | -16.2% | 0.035% |
Blended turnover rose to 0.60x from 0.56x, a +6.9% move that confirms the usage story. After several weeks of deposits accumulating faster than they traded, the ratio finally turned.
The dispersion across chains remains enormous: Solana turns its TVL over 3.12 times a week against Ethereum's 0.17. Both moved this week — Solana up, Ethereum down — so the gap widened further rather than mean-reverting.
9 Composite scorecard
| Chain | TVL | DEX | Stables | Fees | Turnover | Avg rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Solana | 3 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2.0 |
| BNB Chain | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2.4 |
| Ethereum | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 2.6 |
| Base | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4.0 |
| TRON | 5 | 6 | 2 | 6 | 7 | 5.2 |
| Arbitrum | 6 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 5.2 |
| Optimism | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 6.6 |
The scorecard rewards breadth, and this week breadth existed: chains could score on volume and fees simultaneously rather than trading one against the other. Solana and BNB Chain lead the table; Arbitrum's week was the inverse of the sample — volume and fees down together while stablecoin float grew.
10 Anomaly screen
| Chain | Metric | Current | 4-wk avg | z-score | Flag |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Base | Fees | 21.60 | 12.57 | 3.02 | watch |
| Arbitrum | Stablecoins | 3.99 | 3.75 | 2.29 | watch |
| Solana | Fees | 108.30 | 82.35 | 1.79 | elevated |
| BNB Chain | Stablecoins | 16.91 | 17.25 | -1.68 | elevated |
| BNB Chain | Fees | 29.80 | 18.10 | 1.68 | elevated |
| TRON | Stablecoins | 94.19 | 93.06 | 1.51 | elevated |
| BNB Chain | DEX volume | 10.00 | 7.87 | 1.40 | elevated |
| BNB Chain | TVL | 5.96 | 5.43 | 1.32 | elevated |
| TRON | TVL | 5.50 | 5.17 | 1.23 | elevated |
| Optimism | Stablecoins | 0.49 | 0.47 | 0.93 | normal |
| Optimism | Fees | 1.10 | 1.30 | -0.93 | normal |
| Base | Stablecoins | 4.98 | 4.94 | 0.90 | normal |
Two chain-metric pairs clear the two-standard-deviation threshold this week, down from five. Base's fee line (z = 3.02) is the same story visible in the fee table — the screen is confirming a real move, not discovering a hidden one. Arbitrum's stablecoin float (z = 2.29) reflects steady growth against a flat baseline and is the quieter of the two.
11 Comparison with the trailing four weeks
| Metric | Current | 4-wk avg | Delta | Delta % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TVL ($B) | 74.87 | 70.23 | 4.64 | +6.6% |
| DEX volume ($B) | 45.21 | 40.51 | 4.70 | +11.6% |
| Stablecoins ($B) | 284.91 | 283.43 | 1.48 | +0.5% |
| Fees ($M) | 240.50 | 190.35 | 50.15 | +26.3% |
TVL growth leaders this week: Solana (+0.0%), Base (-1.1%), TRON (+1.3%). Weakest TVL change: BNB Chain (+2.2%), Ethereum (+1.5%).
12 Concentration: how much sits in the top three
| Metric | Top three chains | Combined share | Largest | Largest w/w |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TVL | Ethereum, BNB Chain, Solana | 82.7% | $50.1B | +1.5% |
| DEX volume | Solana, BNB Chain, Ethereum | 82.0% | $18.5B | +14.9% |
| Stablecoin supply | Ethereum, TRON, BNB Chain | 90.9% | $147.9B | -0.4% |
| Network fees | Solana, Ethereum, BNB Chain | 88.4% | $108.3M | +28.5% |
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 more than three-quarters of it.
13 Deep dive: the three chains that moved the week
| Chain | TVL | Role | Strength | Watch item |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Solana | $5.9B | Execution and trading | Largest fee total in the sample, turnover at a three-week high | Whether 3.12x holds |
| BNB Chain | $6.0B | High-throughput trading | Second straight volume gain; now 16% above Ethereum | Whether $10bn repeats |
| Ethereum | $50.1B | Settlement and collateral | First weekly close above $50bn TVL | Turnover at 0.17x and falling |
Reading the sample through these three: Solana monetised usage it already had, BNB Chain extended a surge we last week treated as probably episodic, and Ethereum kept absorbing capital without accelerating its use. 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 each 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 the market worked its money this week. Fees and volume grew at triple-digit-multiple the rate of TVL, turnover turned up for the first time in weeks, and the fee record landed on a chain whose deposits never moved.
The question the data hands to next week is whether usage can keep growing without new deposits. Float shrinking 0.1% while volume grows 8% is sustainable for a while — the same float simply turns harder — but it bounds the activity. The chains that grew fees on flat or falling TVL are the ones to watch for either a deposit response or a fade.
For anyone allocating rather than trading, this was the week the turnover line validated its own premise: yields across lending and staking respond to capital velocity, and velocity rose everywhere except the chains that lost volume.
Key Takeaways
- TVL rose 1.2% to $74.87B while DEX volume rose faster (+8.2%) and fees jumped 17.4%.
- Solana posted the largest tracked fee total at $108.3m (+28.5%) on flat TVL.
- Base fees jumped 68.8% to $21.6m while its TVL slipped 1.1%.
- BNB Chain's weekly volume crossed 16% above Ethereum's after a second consecutive gain.
- Stablecoin float slipped 0.1% to $284.91bn; TRON was the only meaningful gainer.
- Blended turnover rose to 0.60x — the first increase in several weeks.
17 The week in brief
This was a usage week, not a deposit week — the mirror image of last week. Aggregate TVL rose a modest 1.2%, but every flow metric grew faster: DEX volume up 8.2%, fees up 17.4%, and blended turnover up from 0.56x to 0.60x, the first turnover increase in several weeks. Stablecoin float was the only stock metric that slipped, down 0.1%.
Solana defined the week. Its $108.3m fee total is the largest weekly figure we have recorded on any tracked chain, posted on TVL that did not move: volume did the work, not deposits. Base ran the same pattern at smaller scale — fees up 68.8% and volume up 13.8% while TVL fell 1.1%.
BNB Chain crossed a symbolic line: its $10.00bn weekly volume now sits about 16% above Ethereum's $8.60bn, after trailing it by 33% as recently as two weeks ago. Last week we treated the surge as probably episodic; a second consecutive gain, on top of a 30.6% week, starts to look like more than one.
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 2026-09-13.