Decentralized finance (DeFi) has had an incredibly successful year in 2021 and there are still no signs of slowing down in the space. Investors are flocking en masse to this space that offers users rewards in return for the digital assets that they are holding on to. The opportunities in the space have continued to grow and this is highlighted by the amount of funds locked up in DeFi protocols.
By October, the total value locked (TVL) in the DeFi space had quickly surpassed $200 billion. Coming on the back of this was a tremendous performance of the DeFi protocols and their tokens in the market. Yet, this space is far from hitting its peak. After hitting $200 billion in mid-October, the market added another $50 billion in TVL to its total, growing 25% in just two weeks.
Related Reading | How A Coinbase User Lost $11.6 Million 10 Minutes After Bitcoin Purchase
$250 Billion And Counting
The start of November has brought with it good tidings for the DeFi market. After dipping at the end of October, DeFi TVL picked up steam as the new month was ushered in. The space saw TVL hit a new all-time high as total value locked surged past $254 billion on Thursday. This milestone puts the value of the space at about half of the market cap of Ethereum.
Total DeFi market cap at $166 billion | Source: Market Cap DeFi Market Cap on TradingView.com
A notable amount of this growth has been contributed by Solana, a market contender for Ethereum that has shown promise in the space. Solana’s attractiveness to investors comes in the form of lower fees and faster transaction times than market leader Ethereum. As investors look for alternatives, Solana has been there to mop up the market share created by this need.
Ethereum Continues To Dominate DeFi
Ethereum may not have seen Solana volumes recently, it still maintains its position as the most dominant network in the space. Ethereum TVL accounts for over 67% of the total DeFi TVL with $172.75 billion locked on the network. It remains the top smart contracts platform in the crypto space and is the first stop for users looking to get started on their DeFi journey.
Related Reading | Ethereum Clears New All-Time High As Market Remains In Greed Territory
MakerDAO made the top of the list as the Ethereum-based protocol with the highest change in a 7-day rolling period. A total of $18.2 billion in TVL is locked in this protocol according to DeFi Llama. It is however not the protocol with the highest TVL. That title goes to Curve (CRV) with $19.89 billion in TVL. The Ethereum-based protocol has consistently placed at the top for TVL but had an 8.33% change on a 7-day basis compared to MakerDAO’s 9.53%.
Binance Chain and Solana followed behind Ethereum for the highest TVL with $19.68 billion and $14.86 billion locked respectively. Arbitrum, however, saw the biggest change as it jumped 18.57% to $2.72 billion in TVL.
Featured image from Bitcoin News, chart from TradingView.com