Market Size
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) is one of the largest sectors in the cryptocurrency industry. DeFi aims to create a more transparent, democratic, and accessible alternative to the existing financial system by using blockchain technology, particularly smart contracts.
The Overall Growth Trend of DeFi Projects
The total value locked (TVL) in DeFi protocols experienced explosive growth in 2021, reaching a peak of nearly $300 billion by the end of the year. However, in 2022, as the crypto market entered a bear phase, a significant amount of capital flowed out of the DeFi sector, leading to a sharp decline in TVL. By April 2023, the global DeFi TVL had dropped to less than $50 billion, marking a low point.
Starting in the second half of 2023, the DeFi sector began to attract capital inflows again, supported by market recovery and positive developments such as Ethereum's Shanghai upgrade (which lifted staking restrictions). TVL stabilized and began to rise. By the end of 2024, the DeFi TVL had rebounded significantly; for instance, between November 2024 and January 2025, TVL grew by about 40%, increasing from approximately $4.3 billion to around $6 billion.
As of April 2025, the value of crypto assets locked in global DeFi protocols stands at approximately $100.6 billion, reaching a new high since August 2022. Although there was a brief dip to $84.87 billion on April 9 due to market volatility, TVL quickly rebounded thereafter and has now returned to the $100 billion level, reflecting a restoration of market confidence.
Active User Growth Trend
DeFi’s user engagement has similarly gone through a cycle of initial growth, decline, and then setting new records. In terms of active users (usually measured by the number of unique on-chain addresses), DeFi reached its first peak during the later stages of the 2021 bull market, with a monthly active address count of approximately 7.5 million at the end of 2021. However, the subsequent bear market led to a decline in user activity, and throughout 2022–2023, the number of active users remained significantly below peak levels.
With the onset of a new recovery cycle, DeFi's user base expanded again, reaching a new record in 2024: in September 2024, DeFi monthly active users hit around 22 million, more than double the 2021 peak. In terms of cumulative total users, by the end of 2024, the number of unique addresses that had interacted with DeFi protocols reached 151 million, representing a 196% increase compared to the previous year.
It should be noted that the number of addresses may exceed the actual number of individuals, but the overall trend reflects a rapid expansion of the user base. Additionally, according to Statista's forecast, the number of global DeFi users (measured by individual persons) will exceed 53 million by 2025, far surpassing the few million users just a few years ago. This indicates that DeFi is attracting a much broader audience, transitioning from early tech enthusiasts to mainstream investors.
TVL Distribution by Sector (DEX, Lending, Staking, Derivatives, etc.)
In terms of functional categories, the total value locked (TVL) within the DeFi ecosystem is currently concentrated mainly in staking and lending sectors. Among them, liquid staking holds the largest share—staking derivatives protocols alone account for over $51.8 billion, representing about 59% of the total DeFi TVL. The strong popularity of staking protocols, led by Lido, reflects the trend of a large number of users staking assets on networks like Ethereum to earn yields.
Next are lending protocols, such as Aave and MakerDAO (Spark), which together account for approximately 20–30% of DeFi TVL. Lending markets cater to users' needs for collateralized loans and leveraged trading, and their TVL tends to grow alongside increased market activity.
In comparison, decentralized exchanges (DEXs) account for less than 10% of the total TVL, with a share around 10%. This portion mainly consists of liquidity-providing funds (such as market-making pools), with Uniswap, Curve, and PancakeSwap being typical examples.
Lastly, derivatives protocols (such as decentralized perpetual contract platforms like GMX and synthetic asset protocols) currently make up the smallest share of TVL, at just a few percentage points. However, it is noteworthy that the derivatives sector has been growing rapidly and has become one of the most prominent growth areas in DeFi since 2024.
Overall, the composition of DeFi TVL has changed significantly over the past two years: liquid staking has risen to become the largest sector, while the relative shares of traditional DeFi areas like DEXs and lending have declined (bridging and cross-chain categories are not separately listed in the above distribution).
DEX Trading Volume Trend
DEX trading activity is closely tied to overall market conditions and TVL levels. During the DeFi boom of 2021, decentralized exchange trading volumes peaked, with monthly total trading volumes repeatedly surpassing $200 billion. However, during the 2022–2023 bear market, on-chain trading cooled significantly, and DEX trading volumes sharply declined: from mid-2022 to mid-2023, total decentralized trading volume hovered around just a few billion dollars per month, representing a drop of more than 50% compared to the peak.
Starting in the second half of 2023, DEX trading volume saw a strong rebound. Especially after entering 2024, on-chain trading activity surged rapidly. According to DefiLlama data, in December 2024, the total monthly trading volume of all DEXs reached a record high of $438 billion, far exceeding any previous period (by comparison, December 2023 saw only about $134 billion). This explosive growth continued into early 2025—alone in January 2025, the total DEX trading volume across the network already reached $425 billion. In terms of daily activity, early 2024 saw daily decentralized trading volume peak at $7.3 billion, the highest since 2023.
Specifically, major DEX platforms recently achieved strong performance: for example, PancakeSwap, based on BSC, recorded over $205.3 billion in total trading volume during the first quarter of 2025, marking the highest quarterly volume in its history. Curve, the stablecoin exchange on Ethereum, also posted $35 billion in quarterly trading volume in Q1 2025, up 13% year-on-year. Uniswap continued to dominate decentralized spot trading, contributing the largest share across Ethereum mainnet and various Layer 2 networks, with its monthly trading volume in early 2025 reaching several tens of billions of dollars.
According to statistics, as of April 2025, the top DEXs (such as Uniswap, Curve, PancakeSwap, and SushiSwap) collectively account for over 90% of the decentralized spot trading market, with daily transaction counts and user numbers having doubled compared to a year earlier.
It is also worth noting that the decentralized derivatives sector has been growing even more rapidly: platforms such as GMX, dYdX, and Hyperliquid, specializing in decentralized perpetual contracts, experienced a trading volume surge in the second half of 2024, with total monthly derivatives contract volume increasing from $33.3 billion to $342 billion by December 2024, achieving an astonishing +872% growth.
This series of data indicates that with the market recovery and the emergence of innovative products (such as perpetual contracts and on-chain leveraged tokens), trading activity in the DeFi sector has now approached—or even surpassed—previous peak levels, with decentralized trading regaining strong user favor.
In 2024, despite market volatility and regulatory challenges, decentralized finance (DeFi) demonstrated remarkable resilience and adaptability. Institutional adoption, tokenization of real-world assets (RWA), and the rise of decentralized derivatives exchanges (DEX) highlighted its sustained growth potential.
No longer limited to retail investors, DeFi is increasingly integrating with centralized finance (CeFi), becoming an integral component of the global financial ecosystem. Evolving regulatory clarity has enabled this convergence, establishing a robust and compliant hybrid financial environment.
Looking ahead to 2025–2030, the distinctions between DeFi and CeFi will further diminish, enabling significant advances in risk asset management, compliance, security, and scalability. Emerging hybrid financial solutions will blend CeFi’s stability and regulatory advantages with DeFi’s innovation and efficiency, ultimately shaping a more mature, reliable, and widely adopted financial ecosystem.
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