Solana has overtaken Binance Smart Chain to rank second in total value locked across all blockchains, according to on-chain data tracked by DefiLlama. Both chains hold $4.90B in TVL as of August 19, with Solana climbing from third position in a single day.
The shift marks a rare reordering at the top of the TVL hierarchy, where Ethereum has held first place for over two years. DefiLlama's ranking weights active liquidity across all decentralized protocols on each chain. A one-rank climb in 24 hours occurred with either sharp inflows into Solana protocols or outflows from BSC, or both.
Solana's TVL has grown in recent months as the chain recovered from the FTX collapse in late 2022, which had cascading effects across the ecosystem. The chain's speed and low transaction costs have drawn developers and liquidity pools back to its primary decentralized exchanges and lending protocols. BSC, the Ethereum Virtual Machine-compatible sidechain operated by Binance, has held steady as a secondary hub for trading and borrowing but has faced competition from cheaper alternatives including Solana, Polygon and Arbitrum.
The third-ranked blockchain changes more frequently than the top two. Ethereum's dominance in TVL sits at roughly 50 percent of the total locked across all chains, a concentration that has remained stable even as secondary chains have fought for position below it. Solana's rise to second place, even at parity with BSC, places it ahead of chains that had commanded larger shares of activity in 2023.
Ranking shifts at this scale often reflect market cycles rather than protocol-level improvements, since TVL depends partly on asset price movements and trader behavior. The fact that Solana and BSC are now exactly equal at $4.90B means the ranking could reverse within hours if inflows or outflows continue. DefiLlama updates its figures in real time, and the position of either chain could shift again before market close.
