Decentralized finance entered the digital market in 2020. Cryptocurrency holders were able to take loans secured by assets and earn money by providing liquidity. New services were built on top of distributed networks without intermediaries.
The direction developed rapidly in 2021. In April 2022, the total volume of all tokens placed on blockchains (TVL) is estimated at $216.17 billion. Compared to the same period in 2021 ($101.19), this figure has more than doubled.
Most funds are locked in the Ethereum blockchain ($117.63 billion). As of April 2022, the main altcoin network remains the largest system for deploying smart contracts. Due to the high fees in Ethereum, many successful projects run on other blockchains. Terra holds $29.43 billion in TVL. Binance Smart Chain (BSC) holds $13.22 billion. Avalanche has $11.31 billion in assets.
TVL displays the amount of blocked or frozen funds. The indicator shows the level of popularity and security of the protocol. Clearly, tokens with higher TVL values are leading in terms of market capitalization. An important indicator for assessing the value is also the rate of cryptocurrencies.
See Also: Many cryptocurrencies have risen in price significantly in a day
The total capitalization of the decentralized market in April 2022 is $128.82 billion. In January, the sector was valued at $149.56. The decline is due to the general unstable situation in the industry. In the 1st quarter, the rates of most tokens fell against the backdrop of a global correction. However, the growth of TVL indicates the interest of users.
DeFi clients make deals worth $7.79 billion daily.
Terra (LUNA) remains the leader in terms of capitalization. The total market value of the asset is $34.12 billion. Industry dominance is 26.5%. LUNA is used for staking in the Terra protocol and issues stablecoins to facilitate transfers in global payment systems. Cryptocurrency ranks 8th in the overall ranking of digital assets. In April 2022, the coin is trading for $96.36. Since the beginning of the year, the exchange rate has grown by 12.7% (from $85.49).
The second place in the ranking is occupied by Lido Staked Ether (STETH) with a capitalization of $10.76 billion. The asset is a tokenized version of Ethereum. Lido Staked Ether allows you to stake ETH 2.0 with any amount of funds. Users can get a share in the second version tokens without locking their own assets. In April 2022, the price of the cryptocurrency is $3.12 thousand. Since January, the token rate has dipped by 14.7%. At the beginning of the year, the asset was worth $3.66 thousand.
The third in terms of capitalization was the Dai (DAI) token. In April, the total market supply value of the asset is $8.71 billion. Dai is a stablecoin that operates on the Ethereum network. The coin is used for transfers, as a payment and investment tool, for staking. The cryptocurrency exchange rate is pegged to USD at a ratio of 1:1.
The top 5 largest DeFi tokens by capitalization also included:
- Chainlink (LINK).
- Uniswap (UNI).
