The total value locked (TVL) in DeFi lending protocols has reached a new all-time high of $55.69 billion, surpassing previous peaks set in 2021, 2022, and late 2024.
Aave
$AAVE v3 has been a major driver of this growth, hitting a record $26.09 billion in TVL last week. Just two months ago in April, it stood at $16.87 billion, marking a 55% rise in that short period. Compared to $19.72 billion at the start of 2025, Aave v3 is now up over 32% year-to-date.
Protocol revenue has also climbed. In April, Aave generated around $900,000 in daily fees, which has increased to approximately $1.6 million per day in June. The AAVE token has surged over 65% in the past three months, far outpacing Bitcoin’s $BTC 26% gain during the same time.
Morpho and Maple
Aave isn’t alone in this uptrend. Other lending protocols are showing strong momentum as well:
• Morpho Blue now holds $3.9 billion in TVL, up 38% year-to-date.
• Maple Finance $SYRUP has jumped to $1.37 billion in TVL, a 417% increase.
On the token side, MORPHO is up 12% in the last three months, while SYRUP, Maple’s native token launched in May 2025, has soared over 140% since its debut.
Maple’s rapid growth is fueled by its expansion into under-collateralized real-world asset (RWA) lending. Its "sovereign pool" framework allows delegates to issue credit lines by verifying borrower data on-chain, enabling broader access beyond crypto-native borrowers.
This shift reflects the broader trend of tokenized finance, where traditional credit desks that can’t hold crypto directly can still participate by purchasing tokenized notes, channeling institutional capital into DeFi infrastructure.
