Ethereum and Solana lead the charge as the broader DeFi ecosystem records strong growth.
Decentralized finance (DeFi) total value locked (TVL) has surged 41% so far in the third quarter of 2025, surpassing $160 billion for the first time since May 2022.
Ethereum and Solana, seen as key indicators of DeFi activity, led the growth. Ethereum’s TVL jumped 50% from $54 billion in July to $96.5 billion today, while Solana’s rose about 30%, from $10 billion to $13 billion over the same period, per DeFiLlama.
The broader DeFi ecosystem’s growth reflects increased activity in lending, borrowing, and decentralized exchange (DEX) trading. Moreover, there has been renewed investor interest following regulatory clarity from U.S. agencies and optimism about macroeconomic trends.
In mid-July, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the digital asset-focused CLARITY Act, the Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act, and the stablecoin-focused GENIUS Act. The GENIUS Act was subsequently signed into law by President Donald Trump on July 18.
At the protocol level, Aave, the largest DeFi lending protocol with over $41 billion in TVL, has grown nearly 58% since July. Liquid staking platform Lido, ranked second with nearly $39 billion, surged 77% in the same period. EigenLayer, a restaking protocol ranking third with more than $20 billion in TVL, climbed over 66%, fueled by ETH’s recent rally.
“The biggest winners are the protocols delivering decentralized products responsibly; Aave, EigenLayer, and Lido have taken the biggest slice, and for good reason – they are established and real,” Mike Maloney, CEO and Founder of Incyt, told The Defiant.
ETH reached a new all-time high of $4,904 on Aug. 24 – it’s currently up 82% since the beginning of July. Meanwhile, Bitcoin (BTC) reached an all-time high of $124,128 on Aug. 14, up 18% since July.
Doug Colkitt, Initial Contributor to Fogo, told The Defiant that the surge in DeFi TVL isn’t a big mystery, but instead two forces colliding: “crypto prices ripping higher and yield-hungry capital finally rotating back on-chain.”
He explained that when BTC and ETH rally, “collateral values balloon, and suddenly every protocol’s TVL chart looks like it’s on steroids.”
However, Colkitt explained that this cycle is different: “TVL isn’t just hot money chasing ponzis,” he said. “Real products like RWAs, LSTs, and perps are pulling sticky capital back into DeFi. That’s a structural shift, not just a sugar high. If TVL is the scoreboard, then Q3 shows DeFi’s back in the game.”
This latest surge builds on strong momentum from Q2, when TVL in DeFi climbed from $86 billion in April to over $126 billion by mid-July – a more than 46% increase in just three months.
