On October 29, 2026, on-chain spot trading volume increased sharply. Decentralized exchanges (DEXs) covered by DefiLlama recorded approximately $11.690 billion in volume that day, up 42.8% from the previous day. On the same day, Polygon extended its stablecoin payment services to Solana, while Chainlink launched a real-world asset (RWA) pricing service that covers weekends. Alongside the rise in trading, infrastructure for payments and collateralized financing is expanding. Analysis of the on-chain economy is broadening from capital flows to services, fees and the allocation of risk.

Ethereum contributes the largest increase in volume; the industry remains below its August peak

October 29 UTC DEX spot volume: total $11.690 billion, Ethereum $3.912 billion, Solana $1.884 billion and BNB Chain $1.070 billion.
Original Chinese illustration · English guideOn-chain spot volume expanded on the complete UTC calendar day of October 29. Industry-wide DEX volume reached $11.690 billion, up 42.8% from the previous day. Ethereum recorded $3.912 billion, up 137.3%; Solana recorded $1.884 billion, up 8.7%; and BNB Chain recorded $1.070 billion, up 12.8%. The Chinese monetary labels use units of $100 million: 116.90, 39.12, 18.84 and 10.70 respectively. Ethereum posted the largest increase in volume among the networks sampled.
Daily DEX volume covered by DefiLlama from August through October 29, ending at $11.690 billion below the sample peak.
Chart in EnglishDaily industry-wide DEX trading volume covered by DefiLlama, measured over complete UTC calendar days from August 1 through October 29. The English chart uses the exact frozen 90-day U.S.-dollar observations, with axis labels and the final observation displayed in billions of U.S. dollars. October 29 volume was $11.690 billion, up 42.8% from the preceding day and 42.2% above the preceding 30-day average of $8.221 billion. Despite the sharp rebound, volume remained below the 90-day sample peak of $14.322 billion on August 21.
DEX volume across Ethereum, Solana, Base and BNB Chain from September 30 to October 29, with Ethereum jumping to $3.912 billion.
Original Chinese illustration · English guideDaily DEX volume on major networks over complete UTC calendar days from September 30 to October 29. Ethereum is shown in green, Solana in red, Base in black and BNB Chain in gray. The Chinese vertical-axis unit is $100 million; labeled ticks of 0, 15 and 30 correspond to $0, $1.5 billion and $3.0 billion. The horizontal axis marks October 1 and October 15. The final values are Ethereum $3.912 billion, Solana $1.884 billion, Base $1.299 billion and BNB Chain $1.070 billion. Ethereum's final-day surge lifts its volume above the other three networks shown.

Based on complete UTC calendar days, Ethereum DEX volume rose from $1.649 billion to $3.912 billion, an increase of 137.3%; Solana recorded $1.884 billion, up 8.7%; and BNB Chain recorded $1.070 billion, up 12.8%. Scaling networks also saw higher volume: Base recorded $1.299 billion, up 21.1%; Arbitrum recorded $303 million, up 49.7%; and Optimism recorded $24 million, up 30.0%. Volume increased across all six networks sampled, with Ethereum contributing the largest absolute increase.

Industry-wide volume that day was 42.2% above the preceding 30-day average of $8.221 billion, but remained below the $14.322 billion recorded on August 21, the peak within the 90-day sample. The one-day surge reflects a concentrated release of trading demand. Whether it translates into recurring operating revenue still depends on the persistence of volume, fee rates and how fees are distributed among liquidity providers, applications and networks.

Security incident highlights freezing powers, making asset status an operating variable

Tether and Circle freezing powers restrict token transfers; Binance's investigation and the recovery and return of assets remain separate steps.
Original Chinese illustration · English guideFreezing changes whether assets can be transferred. Bloomingbit, citing on-chain analysis, reported that Tether and Circle had frozen more than $2.3 billion in stablecoins linked to the incident. The diagram routes the issuers' freezing powers to a lock restricting token transfers at frozen addresses. A separate branch shows Binance's ongoing investigation and its statement that user funds were safe. The recovery and return branch is marked as awaiting further processing: restricting transfers does not itself complete the recovery or return of funds.

Bloomingbit, citing on-chain analysis, reported that Tether and Circle had frozen more than $2.3 billion in stablecoins linked to the incident; Binance was still investigating the security issue and said user funds were safe. Issuers' freezing powers can prevent the affected tokens from being transferred further, while recovery and return require subsequent action. For payment companies and lending protocols, the addresses holding assets, their transferability and counterparty exposure therefore become operating variables that require continuous monitoring.

Transaction fees roughly halve year on year, while protocol revenue trends diverge

1kx report through Q3 2026: transaction fees down about 50% year on year, full-year transaction count projected up 18%, and Q3 lending-user fees down 46%.
Original Chinese illustration · English guideTrading activity increased while the distribution of fees continued to change. The 1kx report, with data through the third quarter of 2026, finds blockchain transaction fees roughly 50% lower year on year, projects an 18% increase in transaction counts for the full year, and reports a 46% year-on-year decline in fees paid by lending-market users in the third quarter. These are different measures and time horizons. The footnote defines ecosystem fees as charges collected by both networks and on-chain applications.

The structure of revenue offers a longer-term perspective. A report released by 1kx on October 29 covers more than 2,600 protocols and 100 publicly listed companies, with data through the third quarter. It finds that blockchain transaction fees have roughly halved year on year, while transaction counts are projected to grow 18% for the full year. In the third quarter, Ethereum and Solana's combined share of ecosystem fees fell below 50% for the first time within the report's coverage. Its definition of ecosystem fees includes charges collected by both networks and on-chain applications. This means competition for fees extends beyond base networks to application operations and customer channels.

Lower fees can reduce users' costs while constraining the base layer's ability to charge. The same report shows that fees paid by lending-market users fell 46% year on year in the third quarter, while Morpho's fees were still slightly higher at approximately $62 million for the quarter. Industry demand, user fees and individual protocols' revenue do not move in lockstep. When assessing a particular business, asset sourcing, risk management and distribution capabilities explain more than transaction counts alone.

Polygon connects payments to Solana; Chainlink fills the pricing gap when markets are closed

Polygon's bank-to-stablecoin-to-fiat payment services on Solana and Chainlink's 24/7 pricing for RWA collateral on Aave Horizon.
Original Chinese illustration · English guidePayment access and round-the-clock collateral pricing extend on-chain services. The upper flow shows Polygon payment services connecting to Solana: bank funding leads to stablecoin settlement and then fiat withdrawal. The lower flow shows Chainlink's 24/7 pricing service for RWA collateral on Aave Horizon. During market hours it uses data from the corresponding trading session; when markets are closed it constructs a reference price from multiple perpetual futures venues. This reference supports collateral valuation, while borrowing limits, liquidation mechanisms and available liquidity still determine usable financing capacity.

Polygon's integration with Solana shows that payment services are operating across networks. Through Open Money Stack, businesses can access bank funding, stablecoin accounts, cross-chain routing and fiat withdrawals. The service supports assets including USDC, USDT and PYUSD, and connects Solana, TRON and EVM networks. Customers can continue settling on Solana, with Polygon providing the surrounding account services and funding channels.

Competition consequently extends across the entire payment process. Merchants care about whether suppliers receive funds in their bank accounts on time; a network transfer is just one step. Integrating funding, conversion, custody or embedded wallets, and withdrawals could reduce the cost of connecting to service providers individually. Providers' revenue, in turn, depends on actual customer transactions, charges and retention. Public blockchains provide settlement capabilities, while payment platforms hold the customer relationships; both can expand together.

The logic is similar for RWAs: after issuance, assets also need to be tradable, support financing and have their collateral risks managed. Chainlink launched its 24/7 pricing service on October 29, with Aave as its launch partner. The service is being used for tokenized real-world asset collateral on the Horizon platform, initially covering high-volume U.S. equities. When traditional markets are open, it uses data from the corresponding trading session; when they are closed, it constructs reference prices from quotes across multiple perpetual futures venues.

This distinction directly affects lending operations. Continuously updating collateral valuations over weekends helps protocols adjust risk parameters. However, derivatives-based reference prices may still differ from the prices of the underlying equities when trading resumes. Borrowing limits, liquidation mechanisms and executable liquidity need to be in place together for round-the-clock quotes to translate into dependable financing capacity.

An asset-tokenization briefing published by The Block that day showed that tokenized private credit on Solana stood at approximately $1.44 billion on October 26, with these assets already entering lending markets such as Kamino. Ethereum's share of tokenized U.S. Treasuries had fallen to around 35%, while its outstanding balance remained near $5 billion; the decline in share primarily reflected expansion on other networks. The choice of network for an asset increasingly depends on the stablecoins, financing and distribution channels available there.

Higher trading volume generates immediate fees, while payment on- and off-ramps and uses for collateral influence whether demand persists. The next developments to track are whether cross-chain payments can attract repeat customers, whether real-world assets can generate sustained borrowing, and whether incremental revenue ultimately accrues to applications, networks or service providers.

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