The recent cryptocurrency market rally has seen the total value locked on decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols surpass the $90 billion mark for the first time since the summer, shortly after Bitcoin hit a high above $73,500, which was surpassed after the recent US elections.
According to data from DeFiLlama, there is currently $91.5 billion locked in the decentralized finance ecosystem, with the lion’s share being within the Ethereum network, which has $53.3 billion in total value locked (TVL). While not all of it is in the Ether token, ETH surged more than 14% over the past seven days to now trade near the $2,900 mark, helping the values grow.
The second-largest chain by TVL is Solana, with $6.7 billion. SOL’s price rose 16.2% over the past week, to the point the cryptocurrency is now the fourth-largest by market capitalization after surpassing Binance’s BNB. SOL is now trading at $197 per token, giving it a $92.9 billion market capitalization.
Per DeFiLlama, the chains that saw the largest rises in TVL over the past seven days include not only Ethereum and Solana but also Bitcoin, which saw a 25.2% surge to $3 billion, Sui, which saw a 10.3% surge to $1.12 billion, and Coinbase’s Base, which saw a 3.5% rise to $2.7 billion.
DeFi ecosystem token rises fuel growth
The value of tokens widely used within the DeFi ecosystem also exploded upward over the past week, boosting the total value locked. For example, Ethena’s governance token ENA rose 38.7% to $0.505 per token, to now have a $1.44 billion market capitalization.
Similarly, Maker’s MKR rose 27.95% to $1.41 billion over the past week. Aave’s native token also rose nearly 30% to now trade at $185 and have a $2.78 billion market capitalization. MKR, ENA, and AAVE are the governance tokens of major DeFi protocols.
Surpassing $90 billion is a significant milestone for the decentralized finance sector, as it shows renewed investor confidence in the adoption of the financial services created within it.
