DeFi is bouncing back hard — even as the broader crypto lending market shrank from $64.4B in 2021 to $36.5B by end-2024.
The CeFi collapse (Genesis, Celsius, BlockFi, Voyager) wiped out 82% of open borrows in centralized lending.
But DeFi? It’s up 959% in 8 quarters — rising from $1.8B to $19.1B since late 2022.
Why?
Smart contracts don’t file bankruptcy.
CeFi still holds $11.2B in open borrows, led by Tether, Galaxy, and Ledn. But the trend is clear:
Permissionless > Permissioned.