Ethereum is rising from the ashes, with the ETH token price reclaiming $4,000 and the chain’s total-value locked cruising to a new all-time high.
The chain’s ecosystem TVL just made a brand new high of $306 billion, surpassing its previous high of $253 billion in December 2024, and $195 billion in 202, according to TokenTerminal.
Ethereum Ecosystem TVL – TokenTerminal
While ETH is still 15% off its all-time high of $4,700, the ecosystem’s stablecoin scene has exploded over the last two years and has carried the chain’s TVL to new highs. In December 2021 Circle and Tether accounted for 39%, or $75 billion of Ethereum’s TVL, but now in 2025 that aggregated total has increased by 63% to $121 billion.
The growth of DeFi-native stablecoins such as Ethena’s USDe and Sky’s USDS have contributed to the expansion as well, creating an additional $15 billion in economic value for Ethereum.
Return to Glory
The Ethereum Foundation’s (EF) structural changes and Ethereum’s Pectra upgrade may have laid the groundwork for the token’s outperformance in Q2.
In June, the EF unveiled a new treasury policy focused on a return to its cypherpunk roots after facing backlash from the Ethereum community throughout 2024 and in the first half of 2025. The new roadmap focuses on transparency in foundation financials, active engagement with DeFi, supporting Ethereum builders and improving the dynamic between the Layer 1 and Layer 2 ecosystems.
While the EF focused on regaining trust from its crypto-native userbase, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Blackrock have been going to work to make ETH more appealing to institutional buyers.
The interest began in May when BlackRock filed for in-kind redemptions allowed within its iShares ETH ETF, and proposed that staking be permitted.
Meanwhile, the SEC has been loosening the stranglehold it had set on DeFi during the previous administration. On Tuesday a branch of the Commission branch clarified that liquid staking activities are not considered securities, and last week SEC Chair Paul Atkins unveiled “Project Crypto”, which was a sweeping endorsement of all things DeFi, from staking to tokenized stock trading.
The ETH/BTC ratio is also rebounding after getting crushed over most of this cycle. The ratio bottomed out at 0.018 in April, a 78% fall from its 2022 highs of 0.085. ETH/BTC is back up to 0.034 today, an 89% rally from its Q2 bottom.
ETF buyers may be driving the reversion, with ETH ETFs hitting new highs of $21 billion in assets under management, a 300% increase from the April bottom of $5.25 billion, according to SoSoValue.
ETH ETF Flows – SoSoValue
