Base Overtakes Solana to Become Second-Largest DeFi Network by TVL

Base held approximately $5.664 billion in total value locked across decentralized finance protocols on Tuesday, Nov. 10, surpassing Solana's $4.989 billion and making Coinbase's Ethereum layer 2 the second-largest network by DeFi capital, according to DeFi TVL data. Ethereum remains far ahead of both, with TVL above $41 billion — more than seven times Base's figure.

The change in ranking is not a single-day event. Base first moved ahead of Solana around Oct. 10, and the gap has held for a month. Both networks posted declines over the 24 hours preceding the Nov. 10 reading: Base fell 1.24%, while Solana dropped 2.08%. The divergence in trend lines, rather than one day of flows, produced the flip.

What does the shift change for practitioners?

The underlying trajectories matter more than the snapshot. Through early November, Base's TVL had risen roughly 28% year to date, while Solana's had contracted about 36%. That is a swing of more than 60 percentage points between two networks competing for the same pool of DeFi depositor capital.

For protocol teams, liquidity managers and institutional allocators, the ranking change signals where deposited capital — the collateral base for lending, trading and staking activity — is concentrating. TVL measures assets deposited in DeFi protocols, so a network that climbs this table has, by definition, attracted deeper committed liquidity rather than transient volume.

The frame for scale: Base's $5.664 billion TVL, spread across its DeFi ecosystem, represents roughly one-seventh of Ethereum's total despite Base settling to Ethereum as a layer 2. Solana's $4.989 billion marks a continuing drawdown from its position at the start of the year.

What the metric does not capture

TVL is one part of network activity, and Solana still exceeded Base in trading volume and user engagement in several areas as of the Nov. 10 reading. A network can rank second by deposited capital while leading in throughput-based measures such as decentralized exchange volume or active wallets.

The practical consequence: teams choosing a deployment chain now weigh two different profiles. Base offers Ethereum-anchored settlement, the ERC-20 token standard and Coinbase's distribution as the incumbent on-ramp, with accelerating DeFi deposits. Solana retains stronger engagement and volume in several categories even as its deposit base contracts.

For Base, the second-place position consolidates the case that layer 2 networks — not only alternative layer 1s — can compete for tier-two DeFi rankings. For Solana, the 36% year-to-date TVL contraction sets the operational question of whether volume-led activity can stabilize deposits.

Ethereum's $41 billion-plus lead remains structural rather than contested. The near-term question for market structure is whether Base's 28% year-to-date growth rate holds through year end, or whether Solana's engagement advantage converts back into deposit growth and reclaims the second spot it held before Oct. 10.