A Coinbase-built network just edged past Solana in DeFi deposits, yet Ethereum's price barely noticed. Before crediting Base for a comeback, check what TVL really measures, who pockets the fees, and which single price level could settle the debate.
The Crypto Desk desk. Editor: Sam Daodu.
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Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN | COIN Price Prediction) now runs a network that holds more money in decentralized finance (DeFi) than Solana (CRYPTO:SOL). According to DeFiLlama’s chain rankings on November 7, 2026, Coinbase’s Base has $5.82 billion in total value locked (TVL), the crypto deposited in its lending, trading, and yield apps. That puts it ahead of Solana’s $5.24 billion by $580 million, an 11% lead.
Base, a layer-2 network built on Ethereum (CRYPTO:ETH), offers low transaction fees and settles back to Ethereum’s main chain, which still holds the top spot in DefiLlama’s rankings with $43.51 billion. Coinbase has not issued a press release on the milestone, and its October 29 earnings call gave no TVL figure for Base.
Neither coin’s price has moved much. ETH trades at $2,232, up 0.2% in 24 hours, while SOL trades at $89.59, down 0.4%. So if a network built by Coinbase has passed Solana, is Ethereum regaining its footing?
What Coinbase Earns When Base Grows
Base has no native token. Instead, Coinbase earns sequencer fees, the charges for the service that orders and processes transactions on Base. On the October 29 call, Chief Financial Officer Alesia Haas said that “sequencer fees are the most direct monetization point for tokenized equities today.” Base users pay these fees in ETH, creating a clear link between Base’s growth and Ethereum.
Base is just one part of a larger business. Coinbase’s subscription and services revenue, which includes USDC stablecoin income, staking rewards, loan interest, and Coinbase One, made up roughly 49% of total net revenues in the third quarter. Coinbase also holds more than 80 licenses globally and reports $377 billion in assets on its platform.
Coinbase markets Base as the No. 1 layer-2 for spot crypto trading and DeFi TVL. It uses the network for tokenized stocks, payments, AI agents, and its Borrow/Lend product, where average balances reached $1.87 billion. CEO Brian Armstrong tied Base’s growth to loans backed by Bitcoin (CRYPTO:BTC), saying Base “has done really well recently by growing its financing product.”
Armstrong’s upbeat view comes from the company that collects Base’s sequencer fees, so it’s an interested party’s take. Haas also said building deep liquidity and network effects is the hard part, and that’s the hurdle Base must clear to keep its lead.
Using Base for Lending and Solana for Trading
A large share of Base’s deposits goes into lending apps like Morpho and Aave, where funds are often tied up for weeks or months. Solana’s ecosystem leans toward fast trading and memecoins, where money moves quickly through decentralized exchanges rather than staying locked. Since TVL measures only the funds held in apps at a given moment, networks built for trading can look smaller than their activity suggests.
Solana has kept building for speed. Its Alpenglow upgrade, which went live on October 21, targets finality of about 150 milliseconds, the point at which a transaction can no longer be reversed. That helps traders, but it does not show up in TVL.
TVL also moves with the dollar value of the tokens inside it, so Solana’s TVL shrinks when SOL and other Solana-based tokens fall. Over the past 30 days, SOL fell 18.2%, while ETH dropped only 9.7%. Part of Base’s lead might therefore come from SOL’s falling price, even without significant withdrawals. The rankings are tight, too, with BNB Smart Chain at $5.08 billion and Tron at $5.04 billion close behind Solana.
Coinbase has not picked a side, either. On the same day Base passed Solana in TVL, Coinbase listed Collector Crypt (CRYPTO:CARD), a Solana token, with CARD-USD trading starting November 7. The company has not committed Base users or its own balance sheet to buying or holding ETH.
Why ETH’s Price Hasn’t Followed Base’s Deposits
Ethereum’s price has moved in the opposite direction. ETH trades about 54.9% below its $4,946 all-time high from August 24, 2025, and SOL is down 69.5% from its $293.31 peak on January 19, 2025. Both have fallen in 2026, with ETH down 24.9% and SOL down 28.1% year to date.
Some value does flow back to ETH from Base, since users pay gas fees in ETH and Base pays Ethereum to record its transaction data. But Coinbase keeps the sequencer profit, and lending a dollar of USDC on Base does not require anyone to buy ETH. So only a modest share of Base’s growth reaches ETH holders.
ETF flows for both coins are mixed. Ethereum ETFs took in $53 million on November 4 but lost $365.3 million for the week. Solana ETFs lost $25.1 million on November 6 after three straight days with no flows.
Both coins trade just above their 200-day moving averages of $2,156 for ETH and $88.98 for SOL, but below their 50-day averages of $2,499 and $108.16, a sign sellers have controlled the past month.
Is Ethereum Gaining Ground on Solana?
Ethereum seems to be making a comeback in DeFi deposits, but ETH’s price doesn’t yet show investors returning money. Base’s growth has given Coinbase a bigger lending business and more sequencer fees, and it gives Ethereum’s layer-2 networks an edge over Solana. For ETH holders, though, the 9.7% drop over the past month shows the market isn’t paying for that usage yet.
For SOL holders, the slip looks driven mainly by SOL’s 18.2% drop, and dollar rankings can’t tell price declines from withdrawals. The test is SOL’s $108.16 50-day average. If SOL climbs back above it while its TVL still trails Base, money has likely shifted to Base. A lead regained on price alone would point to price. Our look at whether Solana could overtake Ethereum by 2028 covers the longer rivalry.
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Sam Daodu is a crypto analyst and the editor of 24/7 Wall St.'s Crypto Desk, where he covers Bitcoin, XRP, Ethereum, Solana and the altcoins investors search for most. His work focuses on price levels, spot ETF flows, on-chain data and the regulatory decisions that move crypto markets, written so a first-time buyer and a seasoned trader can both use it.
Sam has written about crypto professionally since 2019 and has published more than 2,000 articles. Before joining 24/7 Wall St., he wrote for crypto media outlets and Web3 companies and ghostwrote for crypto founders and token launches. His analysis is syndicated on Yahoo Finance, MSN and AOL and has been cited by other crypto news sites. He also founded MacLabs Marketing, a content and personal branding agency for crypto founders and executives.
When he isn't reading charts, Sam is usually at the gym or watching One Piece, a series he maintains has better tokenomics than most altcoins.
