Decentralized finance (DeFi) is showing a strong resurgence, with critical metrics such as active loans and total value locked (TVL) recovering significantly from their 2023 lows. This indicates renewed interest and participation in the DeFi sector.

On July 31, crypto market analytics platform Token Terminal highlighted this recovery, stating, “DeFi is waking up again.” The platform supported this claim with charts and data, revealing that active loans have returned to early 2022 levels, now standing at approximately $13.3 billion.

DeFi lending, which allows investors to lend their crypto holdings to borrowers and earn interest, is a vital indicator of DeFi activity and overall market health. During the 2021 crypto bull run, DeFi active loans peaked at $22.2 billion. However, this figure dropped dramatically, hitting around $3.1 billion by January 2023.

Since then, there has been a substantial rebound in DeFi lending. Token Terminal noted that the rise in active loans could signal increasing leverage, often seen as a precursor to a bull market.

DeFi’s TVL also saw a significant downturn in 2023, falling 80% from a peak of $180 billion in November 2021 to about $37 billion by October 2023. However, the sector has since bounced back by approximately 160%, with TVL currently around $96.5 billion, according to DefiLlama. In the first half of 2024, DeFi TVL doubled from $54 billion to reach a peak of $109 billion in June.

In a July 30 post, Humble Farmer Academy founder Taiki Maeda commented on the upcoming “DeFi renaissance” after more than four years of underperformance. He pointed out DeFi lending platform Aave as particularly promising, noting the surge in its native stablecoin GHO and the Aave DAO’s efforts to reduce costs and introduce new revenue drivers.

Despite these positive trends, CoinGecko reports that most DeFi-related tokens are still experiencing bear market lows. The market capitalization share for this category of crypto assets is just 3.4%. Notably, tokens from platforms like Aave, Curve DAO (CRV), and Uniswap (UNI) remain more than 80% below their all-time highs, even though the broader crypto market is down only 22% from its 2021 peak.

Source: DeFi Seeing Revival as Active Loans Return to 2022 Levels