Ethereum’s DeFi monopoly, with a 56.2% market share and $97 billion in TVL, is under pressure from emerging blockchains offering superior scalability and lower costs. Solana’s 65,000 TPS and $0.00025 fees contrast sharply with Ethereum’s 15 TPS and $1–$10 gas fees, attracting high-throughput DeFi protocols like Serum. Posts on X highlight Solana’s fintech momentum and Polygon’s institutional trust, with chains like Monad (10,000 TPS, EVM-compatible) drawing developers via low-cost, high-speed execution. Ethereum’s Layer 2 solutions (e.g., Arbitrum, Optimism) mitigate congestion, but fragmentation (44 rollups, 9 bridges) complicates user experience. Despite Ethereum’s entrenched developer base (3,700 monthly active developers) and protocols like Uniswap, emerging chains’ cost-efficiency and speed threaten to erode its dominance unless Layer 2 adoption accelerates.