DeFi TVL nears 2021 highs on liquid restaking, Bitcoin L2s

As a seasoned analyst with over two decades of experience in the financial markets, I find the current state of the DeFi ecosystem quite intriguing. The surge in TVL is reminiscent of the dot-com boom of the late ’90s, albeit with a more decentralized and cryptocurrency-driven twist.

The total value held within the Decentralized Finance (DeFi) sector is nearing levels last observed in 2021, as indicated by statistics from DefiLlama.

The TVL spike has been driven by the adoption of liquid restaking tokens (LRTs) and the growth of Bitcoin-native layer 2 networks (L2s), the data shows. Rising cryptocurrency prices due to 2024’s bull market also drove TVL higher. 

As of December 9th, the combined value locked in Decentralized Finance (DeFi) stands at over $134 billion, representing a nearly 150% rise since the beginning of the year, according to DefiLlama. However, it’s worth noting that this figure is still below the 2021 peaks of approximately $170 billion, as the data indicates.

We’re just getting started with staking not only Ether, but cryptocurrencies overall. In the future, institutions will have a variety of risk-managed strategies to maximize their returns when they stake their Ether,” Kairos Research stated in a December 9 report they shared with CryptoMoon.

As a researcher, I delve into the concept of re-staking, which entails utilizing a previously staked token – initially used as collateral with a validator to earn rewards – to support multiple protocols concurrently.

Liquid restaking tokens

As an analyst, I find myself reflecting on the remarkable growth of EigenLayer, a leading restaking protocol that made its grand entrance in the year 2023. Since then, this innovative platform has successfully bootstrapped an astounding $17 billion in Total Value Locked (TVL), as reported by DefILlama.

Additionally, it has spawned a system of LRT (Layer 2 Rollup Technology) protocols, including Ether.Fi, that produce tradable tokens signifying claims to re-staked assets.

On December 9th, the total value locked (TVL) in Ether.Fi surpasses $9 billion. Additionally, other decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols under the LRT umbrella are Renzo and Kelp.

The total value locked (TVL) in Ether across the top 5 decentralized finance platforms, as reported by Kairos Research, is approximately 3.38 million Ether, which equates to a value of roughly 12.5 billion US dollars.

Total LRT TVL, including for other types of restaking tokens, stands at more than $16 billion, according to DefiLlama.

Lido, a protocol for holding Ether (ETH) as a staking token in the decentralized finance (DeFi) world, has become its largest provider of Total Value Locked (TVL), with approximately $40 billion worth of Ether being staked.

Approximately one tenth of the total stETH tokens held by Lido have been re-staked on EigenLayer, as per information available on EigenLayer’s official site.

Bitcoin L2s

Currently, Liquid Staking Tokens (LSTs) related to Bitcoin (BTC) have a total value locked (TVL) exceeding $2.5 billion and are expanding rapidly, as per Staking Rewards’ reports.

Bitcoin LSTs are tokenized claims on Bitcoin staked to L2s, including CoreChain and Babylon. CoreChain started issuing staking rewards this year and Babylon will start soon.

Approximately $1.15 billion in total value locked makes Lombard the top choice among Bitcoin Liquid Swap Tokens. Solv comes in second place, holding around $1 billion in total value.

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2024-12-09 23:55