L1 · EVM

Ethereum

The settlement layer for global stablecoin liquidity, DeFi and tokenized assets.

Ethereum is the largest smart-contract platform by stablecoin supply, TVL and developer activity. Since the 2022 Merge it runs proof-of-stake, and L2 rollups now handle most user-facing transactions while Ethereum L1 remains the settlement layer.

Official site Block explorer Updated today
Live metrics
Updated 1d ago
Stablecoin supply
$158.0B
DeFi TVL
$78.0B
Daily transactions
1.2M
Active addresses 24h
540,000
Validators
1.1M
Stablecoin supply on this chain · 90d Updated today
$161.7B
Source: DeFiLlama
24h
-0.05%
7d
-1.18%
net−$1.9B
30d
-2.00%
net−$3.3B
inflow 7d$0
outflow 7d$1.9B
Technical profile

Technical profile

Native token
ETH
Consensus
Proof-of-Stake (Gasper: LMD-GHOST + Casper FFG)
VM
EVM
EVM compatible
Yes
Block time
12s
Finality
~13 minutes (2 epochs)
TPS (typical / max)
15 / 30
Avg fee
$2.40
Launched
Jul 30, 2015
Foundation and contributors

Foundation and contributors

Foundation
Ethereum Foundation (Zug, Switzerland)
Country of origin
Switzerland (Foundation)
Core contributors
Ethereum FoundationGeth (go-ethereum)ErigonRethNethermindBesuLighthousePrysmTekuNimbusLodestar
Stablecoins on this chain

Stablecoins on this chain

Symbol
Supply
Contract
USDT
$65.2B
0xdac17f…831ec7
USDC
$32.1B
0xa0b869…06eb48
USDE
$6.4B
0x4c9EDD…1E68B3
DAI
$4.3B
0x6b1754…271d0f
FDUSD
$1.4B
0xc5f0f7…E16409
PYUSD
$580.0M
0x6c3ea9…23A0e8
FRAX
$480.0M
0x853d95…75b99e
crvUSD
$295.0M
0xf939E0…ac1b4E
GHO
$245.0M
0x40D16F…aE6C2f
LUSD
$58.0M
0x5f9880…568bA0
Timeline

Timeline

  1. Jul 30, 2015
    Frontier mainnet launch

    Ethereum L1 goes live with first PoW block.

  2. Jul 20, 2016
    DAO hardfork

    Network forks to revert The DAO hack; chain split spawns Ethereum Classic.

  3. Nov 26, 2017
    USDT ERC-20 launches

    Tether deploys USDT as an ERC-20 token, beginning Ethereum's stablecoin dominance.

  4. Dec 1, 2020
    Beacon Chain launch

    PoS consensus layer goes live in parallel to PoW execution.

  5. Sep 15, 2022
    The Merge — switch to PoS

    Ethereum transitions from PoW to PoS, reducing energy use ~99.95%.

  6. Apr 12, 2023
    Shapella — withdrawals enabled

    Staked ETH withdrawals become possible.

  7. Mar 13, 2024
    Dencun — EIP-4844 blobs

    Proto-danksharding deploys blob data for L2 rollups, cutting L2 fees ~10x.

  8. May 22, 2025
    Pectra hardfork

    EIP-7702 (account abstraction), increased max effective balance for validators, and improved blob throughput.

Ecosystem

Ecosystem

Notable projects
  • Uniswap
  • Aave
  • Curve
  • MakerDAO / Sky
  • Lido
  • EigenLayer
  • Pendle
  • Ondo
  • BlackRock BUIDL
Recent upgrades
  • Pectra (2025): EIP-7702 + max effective balance
  • Dencun (2024): EIP-4844 blobs
  • Cancun: storage slot reductions
  • Verkle trees (planned)
Bridges and interop

Bridges and interop

LayerZeroWormholeAcrossHopStargateCCIP (Chainlink)Circle CCTP
Best for

Best for

  • ›Stablecoin issuance and settlement
  • ›DeFi liquidity and lending markets
  • ›RWA tokenization (Treasuries, equities)
  • ›L2 data availability anchor
  • ›Institutional treasury operations
Risk notes

Risk notes

  • ● Mainnet gas fees can spike during peak demand
  • ● Validator set centralization concerns (Lido at ~28%)
  • ● MEV extraction by sophisticated actors
Resources

Resources

More on Ethereum

For cross-chain context, deeper dives and stablecoin-specific analysis, see the blog and the stablecoins index.