The decentralized finance (DeFi) market continues to show impressive growth, with top protocols like Aave and Lido surpassing $70 billion in net deposits in December. According to data from TokenTerminal, Aave currently holds $34.3 billion in deposits, just slightly ahead of Lido’s $33.2 billion. Together, these two protocols account for 45.5% of the $148 billion allocated to the top 20 DeFi applications.
In terms of total value locked (TVL), Lido leads the way with $33.8 billion, followed by Aave at $20.6 billion. TVL represents the total value of assets allocated across all assets in a protocol, while net deposits refer to the total amount deposited in a protocol, excluding fees and synthetic tokens.
Both Aave and Lido are also top revenue generators in the DeFi space. Aave saw a 27.5% increase in revenue over the past 30 days, reaching $12.5 million, making it the 10th largest protocol by revenue. Meanwhile, Lido generated $9.6 million in revenue with a 24% growth rate, placing it as the 12th largest DeFi application by revenue.
The DeFi ecosystem as a whole has been experiencing a resurgence in 2024. The total TVL of the DeFi sector has skyrocketed by 107%, reaching $185 billion at the time of writing and peaking at $212 billion in mid-December. This marks the first time that the TVL has crossed the $200 billion mark.
Decentralized exchanges have also seen a surge in trading volume, with a record high of nearly $380 billion in November. The ratio between decentralized and centralized exchanges reached 13.9% in October, the second-highest level on record.
The lending market has also seen significant growth, with active loans peaking at nearly $21 billion in a single month. This trend indicates that more users are embracing on-chain financial services. Additionally, the stablecoin market has grown to nearly $200 billion, as users leverage their crypto holdings as collateral to borrow stablecoins and increase their exposure to the crypto market.
Overall, the DeFi sector is experiencing a period of rapid expansion and innovation, with key protocols like Aave and Lido leading the way in terms of deposits, TVL, and revenue generation. The continued growth and adoption of DeFi platforms bode well for the future of decentralized finance.