As of the time of writing, the crypto economy has reached a total value of $2.9 trillion after the entire market experienced strong growth over the past week.
On Sunday, the total value locked (TVL) in DeFi surpassed the $100 billion mark. Although it took a long time to reach this important milestone, as of the time of writing, DeFi protocols have achieved a total TVL of $101.42 billion, led by Lido ($31.138 billion) while Aave comes in second with $16.435 billion.
Lido operates as a liquidity staking platform, while Aave provides a method for users to lend, borrow, and earn interest on cryptocurrency without the need for intermediaries.
Ranking third on the list is EigenLayer, with $13.443 billion, providing restaking services dedicated to the Ethereum ecosystem. Restaking allows users to leverage their staked assets across multiple protocols, opening up opportunities to earn rewards without having to free up the principal funds deposited.
Source: Defillama
Other prominent DeFi protocols, such as Ether.fi (a staking platform), Sky (formerly MakerDAO, a lending protocol), and Uniswap (a decentralized trading platform), also significantly contribute to the total TVL, with Ether.fi currently managing $8.205 billion, Sky holding approximately $6.416 billion, and Uniswap reporting $5.623 billion.
According to data from DeFiLlama, there are currently up to 4,212 active DeFi protocols, with the top six protocols – Lido, Aave, Eigenlayer, Ether.fi, Sky, and Uniswap – accounting for $81.26 billion of the total $101.42 billion in value locked. This means that these six platforms hold about 80.12% of the total TVL in DeFi today. The remaining $20.16 billion is distributed across 4,206 other protocols.
Although this concentration benefits large players like Lido, Aave, and Binance (Binance's liquidity staking platform secures 1.62 million ETH and adds an additional $5.064 billion in TVL), it also creates some potential risks. These risks could cause a spillover effect if there are any serious issues with these platforms, similar to the challenges that DeFi applications have faced in the past.
As DeFi continues to evolve, its resilience will be challenged by the concentration of assets within a few large protocols. Whether this concentration will drive innovation or create new vulnerabilities that need to be addressed remains an open question in the rapidly changing world of crypto and blockchain technology.
