Ethereum
Ethereum mainnetETH L1
The dominant smart-contract Layer-1 — host to the largest stablecoin float and the deepest DeFi yield surface.
Ethereum mainnet hosts the canonical issuance of USDC, USDT, DAI, and most CDP-style stables. Post-Merge (2022) PoS, post-Dencun (2024) blob-data; gas costs are still a friction for retail-scale yield, which is why the L2 (Layer-2) surface grew so fast.
See on StableLens
/chain/ethereum — live data, risk grade, and methodology citation.
Related terms
- L2 (Layer-2)A scaling network that inherits security from an L1 by posting state roots back — rollups, validiums, plasma.
- EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine)The runtime that executes Ethereum smart-contract bytecode — replicated across all EVM-compatible chains.
- ArbitrumAn Ethereum optimistic rollup operated by Offchain Labs — the largest L2 by TVL.
- BaseCoinbase's optimistic rollup built on the OP Stack — fastest-growing L2 by stablecoin yield surface.
- OptimismAn Ethereum optimistic rollup operated by OP Labs — stewards of the OP Stack underlying Base, Mode, and many other L2s.