DeFi Surpasses FinTech: AAVE’s $40B TVL Overtakes Revolut’s Assets
Decentralized finance (DeFi) is rapidly moving into the FinTech mainstream, with AAVE’s total value locked (TVL) now exceeding $40 billion—surpassing the total assets of digital banking giant Revolut. This milestone highlights the scale and maturity DeFi protocols are reaching, as AAVE’s smart contract-based lending platform now handles more capital than some of the world’s most prominent Web2 payment systems.
AAVE allows users to lend and borrow cryptocurrencies in a fully decentralized way, relying on code rather than intermediaries, and its TVL has surged thanks to user deposits and the rising value of assets like Ether. This puts AAVE ahead of traditional FinTechs like Revolut, and also ahead of other DeFi protocols such as Lido and Sky, which are themselves major players in the ecosystem.
Meanwhile, in front of AAVE in terms of scale are industry giants like Circle, Tether, Robinhood, and Coinbase—companies that bridge the gap between traditional finance and crypto, and whose platforms are often used as onramps to DeFi.
The fact that a decentralized protocol like AAVE can now rival or surpass major FinTechs in assets under management signals a major shift: smart contract platforms are proving they can securely and efficiently handle huge amounts of capital, challenging the dominance of legacy financial systems and paving the way for a new era of programmable finance.
