The Ethereum blockchain network is on track to settle over $1 trillion worth of transactions in 2020. According to the data from Messari and CoinMetrics, the network settled $989 billion in value year-to-date.
Julien Bouteloup, a decentralized finance (DeFi) security auditor and developer, said:
“Ethereum is now the dominant settlement layer in crypto and is on pace to settle over $1 trillion in 2020. ETH took over BTC in no time.”
Comparing Ethereum to Bitcoin is difficult because the latter is a store of value and a currency. In contrast, Ethereum is a smart contracts blockchain protocol that processes many types of data alongside transactions.
Still, the data shows the rapid growth rate of Ethereum and the impact of DeFi on smart contract blockchains.
Bitcoin versus Ethereum in value settled. Source: Messari, CoinMetrics
The Large Effect of DeFi on Ethereum is Noticeable
2020 has been the year of DeFi, at least from June to September. Following the launch of Compound’s COMP token and Yearn.finance’s YFI token, the DeFi market exploded.
The rise of governance tokens fueled a new DeFi cycle. Consequently, more users started to use decentralized exchanges like