The Ethereum price has fallen over 60 percent since its peak in 2025 and has fallen significantly in 2026. Despite this, leading institutions in the global financial world continue to develop the Ethereum infrastructure. JPMorgan Asset Management, Citi, Deutsche Bank and BlackRock have launched new projects on Ethereum in recent months. Tokenization, layer-2 solutions and bank-based stablecoin initiatives have an important place in the strategies of institutions, especially those seeking to transition to blockchain-based financial infrastructures.
Corporate Projects Are Increasing on the Ethereum Network
New financial products and services powered by bandwidth on Ethereum continue to attract the attention of traditional players. Asset tokenization, in particular, has recently come to the fore in blockchain-focused projects of large banks. Various products, from tokenized funds to layer-2 rollup solutions and bank-issued stablecoin applications, are being implemented on the Ethereum network.
Network Effectiveness, Market Share and Layer-2 Solutions
Although Ethereum’s market performance has been volatile in recent months, the network’s total assets locked (TVL) figures have remained strong. Ethereum is by far the leader among all blockchains, with a TVL of $52.4 billion, corresponding to a rate of 57 percent. When Layer-2 projects Base, Arbitrum, Polygon and Optimism are included, Ethereum’s total dominance reaches 65 percent. Solana is well behind Ethereum with a TVL of $6.4 billion and BNB Chain with a TVL of $5.5 billion.
Decentralized exchange volumes are also an important indicator for Ethereum. In February 2026, DEX volume on Ethereum decreased to $56.5 billion. This value marks a sharp decline from the peak of $128.5 billion seen in August 2025. Solana achieved a monthly volume of $95.5 billion in the same period. Despite this, Ethereum’s dominance in total locked value in DeFi and real-world assets continues.
Vitalik Buterin Working on Base Tier Upgrades
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin recently focused on important scalability proposals for the base layer of the network. These include parallel block verification, aligning gas fees with actual execution times, and implementing zero-knowledge-based virtual machine (ZK-EVM) at the base layer. Running ZK-EVM in the main layer has the potential to reduce dependence on rollups.
Buterin argues that it would be more appropriate to test these updates on only a part of the network before a full-scale implementation of ZK-EVM. In addition, the development of signature structures resistant to quantum attacks and optimizations at the protocol level that will provide low gas costs are also included in the road map.
Institutions Look Beyond Price Performance
While the recent downward movement in the Ethereum price has caused disappointment in individual investors, corporate actors are focusing on evaluating long-term opportunities. Building the decentralization and trust infrastructure that exists on Ethereum stands out as the main motivation in the projects carried out in the background.
Compared to the rapid price movements that often stand out in the crypto industry, the perspective of traditional financial institutions is broader and longer-term. Ethereum’s market share in the DeFi ecosystem and its versatile presence in enterprise projects show that the platform’s appeal continues despite recent price declines.
