The Defiant

MakerDAO Regains Top Spot on TVL Leaderboard

MakerDAO is once again the largest DeFi protocol by Total Value Locked.

By: Owen Fernau Loading...

MakerDAO Regains Top Spot on TVL Leaderboard

MakerDAO, one of DeFi’s longest-standing protocols, is once again top of the leaderboard in terms of total value locked (TVL), according to DeFi Llama. MakerDAO has a TVL of $9.75B, as of May 23.

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The rise in the rankings indicates MakerDAO’s usefulness in a bear market. The lending protocol, which issues the U.S. dollar stablecoin DAI, worked without a hitch as it processed 264 liquidations in the past month.

Curve TVL Cut In Half

The TVL of the previous market leader, automated market maker (AMM) Curve Finance, dropped by more than half in the last month from $19.91B to $9.02B, data from DeFi Llama shows.

Curve held the top spot in TVL terms for much of 2021, but since the AMM is primarily designed to swap like-kind assets (primarily stablecoins, which included the now-defunct UST), Curve ceded the TVL crown to Maker when stablecoin supplies dropped.

Despite its ascension, Maker also lost 30.69% in TVL in the past 30 days. The collateralized assets locked in the protocol’s smart contracts, primarily ETH and BTC, have lost 32.5% and 25.7% in value over the same time period, respectively.

According to a query by Dune Analytics founder Fredrik Haga, Maker TVL peaked on Nov. 9 at $16.76B. Haga’s query, which at $6.4B shows a different current TVL for the lending protocol than DeFi Llama, underscores Maker’s drop in TVL despite its number one slot.

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rETH Collateral

As the protocol looks to grow, Maker is exploring onboarding rETH, a staked derivative of ETH (meaning it represents ETH staked in the Beacon Chain deposit contract), as another form of collateral.

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While Maker’s rise to the top spot comes at a sobering time for crypto, MKR holders must surely feel the sweet taste of victory. Do Kwon, who famously called for DAI’s demise, is mired in controversy after the collapse of UST wiped billions from the crypto market.

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