Ethereum has surged back to dominance in the decentralized finance (DeFi) market, driven by a massive increase in stablecoin transactions on its mainnet. In May 2025, automated trading bots facilitated 4.84 million stablecoin transfers, helping Ethereum reach $480 billion in monthly stablecoin transaction volume. This phenomenal activity has pushed Ethereum's mainnet stablecoin transaction total to approximately $11 trillion for 2025, marking a threefold increase from previous years and raising its global stablecoin volume share to 60%.
This resurgence reflects a shift in user preference from Layer 2 (L2) scaling solutions back to Ethereum's Layer 1 (L1) mainnet, due in part to recent network upgrades that have reduced transaction fees and enhanced protocol efficiency. Layer 2 solutions like Optimism have experienced declines, losing over $700 million in stablecoin supply as users migrate back to the mainnet.
The increased transaction efficiency and scalability have reshaped the DeFi landscape, enabling Ethereum to solidify its position as the leading platform for large-scale stablecoin activities. Influential developers and trading platforms are closely monitoring these developments, recognizing Ethereum's improved capacity to handle substantial automated transactions.
Historically, Ethereum had lost ground to Layer 2 solutions due to scalability challenges, but this current trend signals strong long-term resilience and renewed investor confidence, contributing to increased transaction volume and market capitalization. DeFi governance tokens and Ethereum’s native ETH token are also benefiting from heightened trading activities amid this recovery.