Ethereum-based DeFi protocols may wish to assume twice earlier than rolling out on each Layer 2, as knowledge exhibits most charges nonetheless accrue on the mainnet.
Whereas the Ethereum ecosystem continues to increase with a number of Layer 2 (L2) networks — designed to enhance scalability and cut back charges — the info exhibits it could not all the time be financially viable for decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols to deploy iterations on all of those networks.
DefiLlama knowledge exhibits that for protocols which have expanded essentially the most throughout the Ethereum ecosystem, over 90% of charges or income nonetheless come from the mainnet, with L2s contributing solely a small share.
Aave, the biggest DeFi cash market, generated over $65 million in charges in July 2025, changing roughly $9 million into income. However the overwhelming majority of that got here from the Ethereum Layer 1, which hosts practically $29 billion in complete worth locked.
In the meantime, the mixed TVL of a constellation of Layer 2 chains — Arbitrum, Avalanche, Base, Polygon, Optimism, Sonic, Scroll, Linea, Celo, and Soneium — pales compared, and so does their contribution to charge revenue.
For example, Scroll generated solely $46,366 for Aave in June, which means lower than $1,500 per day, whereas Gnosis fared barely higher with $93,241.
Curve Finance’s numbers inform an identical story. For a similar interval, charges hovered round $2 million, with about $1 million changing to income. Ethereum swimming pools dominated that tally, leaving the smaller L2s with solely a fraction of the pie. Whereas a granular breakdown by chain is scarce, the out there knowledge paints an image of modest returns for a lot of of those newer deployments.
Saturation Level
Ignas, co-founder of DeFi artistic studio Pink Brains, mentioned in an X put up on Aug. 1 that the business may need hit “an L2 saturation level,” noting that Aave most likely received’t transfer ahead with a Bob BTC Layer 2 launch although it handed a temp-check vote, since present deployments haven’t actually paid off financially.
Some have already raised considerations that a number of Layer 2s are barely pulling in $1,500 a day in charges, not practically sufficient to justify all of the work and assets concerned. On Curve’s discussion board, a person below the alias “phil_00Llama” proposed stopping all new Layer 2 improvement, saying it takes numerous developer time and assets however solely brings in about $1,500 a day in charges, far too little to cowl the excessive repairs prices of those fast-changing chains.
Nonetheless, the dialogue on this proposal has been quiet, with few responses. Those that did reply expressed skepticism about halting L2 improvement completely, suggesting that there should be alternatives value pursuing on these chains.
The actual prices of working protocols on L2s aren’t all the time clear, making profitability exhausting to measure. For instance, Aave’s growth onto Scroll required committing $500,000 value of AAVE tokens within the security module, whereas its transfer onto Gnosis required as much as $5 million in capital devoted to supporting GHO liquidity. GHO is Aave’s native stablecoin with a market capitalization of roughly $300 million.
With charges already low — and revenues even decrease — initiatives aiming to be all over the place on Ethereum could must rethink their technique, as some deployments could require extra effort than they’re value.
