- Ethereum stablecoin supply rose from $22B in 2021 to $123B in 2025, marking a 5.6x increase amid broader ecosystem weakness.
- DeFi total value locked has only grown from $85B in 2021 to $89B in 2025, showing little long-term sector progress.
- Developer activity on Ethereum is at its lowest level since 2018, amid rising AI adoption and waning crypto-specific investment.
Ethereum’s price has returned to the $1,600 range, mirroring the levels last seen during the early 2021 bull rally. The drop places Ether back into a historically significant price zone, despite Bitcoin trading at 24–36 percent higher than its April 2021 range.
Since 2019 and up until April 2025, the supply of stablecoins on the Ethereum network has experienced dramatic expansion. In January 2021, $22 billion worth of stablecoins were operating on the Ethereum network. The stablecoin supply on Ethereum has expanded to $123 billion as recorded by DefiLlama in April 2025. Overall growth in this metric stands as one of the few indicators that show progress in the Ethereum network.
The massive growth of stablecoins did not cause Total Value Locked (TVL) in decentralized finance protocols to expand by a comparable degree. DeFi protocols held assets worth $85 billion through their TVL metric when April 2021 arrived. The DeFi Total Value Locked experienced only minimal development from 2019 to 2023 and currently amounts to $89 billion.
Daily DEXs transactions exceeded $5.7 billion in April 2021 then rose to $7.6 billion in April 2025. The current value of $89 billion falls short of reaching the peak value of $50 billion that occurred in January 2022. User activity alongside trading engagement has shown a minimal recovery based on the modest trading volume figures.
Developer Activity Hits Lowest Point Since 2018
Ethereum is also witnessing a sharp decline in developer engagement. Activity has dropped to levels last seen during the 2018 market downturn. According to crypto analyst Miles Deutscher, the slowdown is tied to reduced venture capital interest, talent moving to AI projects, and frustration with the pace of blockchain innovation.
While stablecoin metrics offer a rare positive signal for Ethereum, most other indicators, including price, DeFi TVL, and developer activity, reflect a stagnant or declining trend. As Ethereum’s ecosystem continues to adjust to current market realities, only selective areas such as stablecoin infrastructure and blockchain-AI intersections remain resilient.
