DeFi Total Value Locked Reaches Record High Of $35.8 Billion

The total value locked in the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector reached a record high of $35.8 billion on Feb 6. That represents a growth of 132% in the five weeks since the start of the new year.

TVL measures the total value of the tokens that are locked within the DeFi sector. The figure has steadily risen since August 2017 when the sector first burst onto the scene.

In 2018, the TVL locked in the DeFi sector was around $300 million. It more than doubled in just a year’s time, reaching $800 million by the end of 2019.

The sector then exploded in 2020, closing the year with around $15 billion locked in decentralized finance projects. Over the past 12 months, DeFi’s TVL grew by a staggering 33-fold.

The impressive rate of TVL growth has analysts believing the DeFi bubble is ready to pop. However, CEO of Boston Protocol Justin Banon is under the impression that the disruption of centralized finance will continue to drive DeFi’s growth.

DeFi’s Top 10 Protocols Exceed $1 Billion In Value of Funds Locked

Today, all of DeFi’s top 10 protocols for TVL exceed $1 billion in value of funds locked. Which is the threshold that only a year ago applied to the sum total of all DeFi protocols. 

The top three protocols at the moment are Maker, Aave and Compound, boasting respective TVLs of $6.03 billion, $5.66 billion and $4.15 billion. Interestingly enough, the three projects are lending protocols.

Decentralized exchanges also make up a big chunk of the DeFi sector’s TVL. In this area, Curve Finance, Uniswap and SushiSwap lead the way, with $3.85 billion, $3.67 billion and $3.13 billion locked, respectively.

At press time, the total cryptocurrency market cap sits at an all-time high of $1.3 trillion. The gains in the past week can be attributed to the performance of DeFi tokens and Ethereum, the platform they are built on.

ETH surged past $1,800 for a new record high on Tuesday, driven by the launch of CME futures a day ago. The ATH coincided with Bitcoin smashing a new record of $48,000 after Tesla revealed that it purchased $1.5 billion worth of the leading cryptocurrency.