The BUIDL philosophy seems to be working, as the combined market capitalization of ERC20 tokens built on Ethereum has exceeded the network's native ETH .

• The combined market capitalization of ERC20 tokens now exceeds that of Ethereum itself.
• Ethereum- based tokens , such as those used in decentralized finance (DeFi) products, are now collectively valued at $ 33 billion.
• Is the DeFi boom a sign of great things to come for Ethereum ?

DeFi is done for a while. And even if it doesn't do wonders for the price of Ethereum ( ETH ) itself, the tokens built at the top of the network are having a great year.

The total market capitalization of all ERC20 tokens running on Ethereum has exceeded $ 33 billion, according to data compiled and shared by Camila Russo of the  Defiant  . The source of the figures comes from EtherScan, Ethereum 's most popular block explorer .

And at $ 33 billion, the estimate exceeds the total market capitalization of ETH , the native token of the Ethereum blockchain , which today is worth about $ 27 billion.

In summary, the total value of the economy built   around   Ethereum now exceeds that of ETH , the token that supports the blockchain. And that doesn't even take into account the value of unique tokens based on the ERC721 standard (like those issued by CryptoKitties or Gods Unchained), which move millions of dollars alone. The gap is therefore probably even greater.

Of all the applications that run on Ethereum , the most useful are currently linked to decentralized finance. As Decrypt previously reported, DeFi tokens are currently growing much faster than Bitcoin , or any other cryptocurrency on the market. Currently, it seems to be DeFi, tokens and high-risk apps that are attracting the most attention from investors.

Blockchain> crypto?

Depending on how you see it, it could be a sign of market maturity. Ethereum could prove its value as a decentralized global supercomputer on which various applications are built. 

In other words, the value of Ethereum as a technology probably cannot be simply measured in terms of the market capitalization of ETH . The ETH , after all, is only part of a complex ecosystem that continues to evolve. (It may even be a sign that Ethereum co-founder Joe Lubin could still win his bet against the Bitcoin maximalist Jimmy Song, if mass adoption of dapps really becomes a thing.)

And with Ethereum 2.0 just around the corner (according to some ETH developers , at least), the big DeFi boom of 2020 could be a sign of things to come.

Again, the DeFi hype could just as easily disappear as the craze for 2017 ICOs. Ultimately, market players will decide.