A Different DeFi Summer

gm, Defiers!

Big story:

DeFi is having a moment, with TVL and token prices surging — but it’s a different kind of comeback.

Here’s what’s happening today:

Top crypto assets see mild correction with total market cap down 6%
DeFi platform Arcadia was exploited for $3.5 million
As ETH trades above $3,000, traders predict an upcoming “supply shock”
The Stellar development roadmap paves way for expansion and network scalability [SPONSORED]
Investment policy statements: Ending misalignment and empowering long-term vision in decentralized organizations [SPONSORED]

Read more below! But first, please give our sponsors some love; they make this newsletter possible.

DIA launches $DIA Staking and Oracle Grants with 20 chains, including Arbitrum, BNB Chain, and Avalanche. Power your dApp with trustless oracles, cost-free.

DIA's Infra Gardens Event Recap: Building the Future of Crypto & DeFi

Relive the highlights from the Infra Gardens event! 🌿 Industry leaders gathered in a stunning garden villa to discuss the future of crypto, DeFi, and blockchain innovation.

From exciting announcements like the Robinhood Chain to insights on Ethereum’s sustainability and DeFi’s growing impact, this event was packed with inspiration. Don’t miss the energy and ideas that are shaping the next wave of innovation — watch the recap video now!

📈 Markets in the last 24 hrs:

TICKER	VALUE	24H
Bitcoin	$116,429	-2.95 %
Ethereum	$3,033.01	0.41 %
XRP	$2.89	-2.11 %
BNB	$682.23	-1.62 %
Solana	$160.04	-2.89 %

MessariPortals	MINDSHARE Rank	MINDSHARE % Change (7d)
		-2.12%
		112.32%
		-36.83%
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Today’s Big Story

DeFi’s Having a Resurgence, But It’s Not the Same DeFi

DeFi is having a moment, but it’s a different kind of comeback.

Total value locked (TVL) is climbing, new DeFi tokens are outperforming the market, and a new generation of protocols is dominating mindshare. While Ethereum still reigns supreme in terms of capital parked on-chain, the real action is happening elsewhere — in fast-paced trading arenas on Solana and BSC, and across hyper-efficient Ethereum Layer 2s like Base and Arbitrum.

Let’s break it down.

DeFi Resurgence: TVL and Tokens Are Up

TVL across all DeFi chains currently sits around $135 billion, up from $51 billion in July 2023, according to DefiLlama. That’s more than double in under two years — not quite a full comeback, but certainly a resurrection from the sleepy bear market days.

Total DeFi TVL

But what’s grabbing headlines isn’t just the rising capital locked, it’s the projects. Maple Finance’s SYRUP token, Ethena’s ENA, Hyperliquid’s HYPER, Euler’s EUL, and the OG AAVE have all posted massive gains this cycle.

Hyperliquid, in particular, has emerged as the new trading venue, with its perp DEX clocking over $500 million in daily volume, all without even a token incentive. The Defiant reported it’s also the first L1 to crack into the top-10 TVL dominance charts with no token distribution.

Stablecoin market cap is also surging, reaching a record $258 billion, with Stripe and PayPal involved. Meanwhile, tokenized RWAs are breaking ground from a non-existent category two years ago to a $25 billion category, with BlackRock and Franklin Templeton among the major players.

But TVL Is Still Far from All-Time Highs

For all the hype, we’re still a long way from the glory days. In December 2021, DeFi TVL hit an all-time high of $215 billion. Today’s $135 billion figure puts us almost 40% below that peak, according to DefiLlama.

But it’s not that DeFi is failing, it’s that the metric is increasingly outdated. We’re no longer in a world of leveraged yield farms, where the only way to participate in open finance was to put up a big chunk of collateral. And that’s a good thing.

Ethereum’s Share Grows, Even in a Multi-Chain World

Even with increased competition, Ethereum has maintained dominance in TVL since the 2021 all-time high. As of July 15, it accounts for about 57% of the total DeFi TVL, compared to 59% in December 2021 and ~51% in early 2023. That’s despite dozens of new chains emerging: Solana, Sui, Hyperliquid, and even Bitcoin’s growing L2 ecosystem.

DeFi TVL by chain

If you consider that Ethereum’s Layer 2s, like Base, Arbitrum and Optimism, don’t compete against Ethereum but extend it, you can argue Ethereum has even gained dominance. These chains settle to Ethereum, and activity moving to them is more of a horizontal migration within the ecosystem than a loss for Ethereum. In that light, Base’s 2.87% TVL share and Arbitrum’s 2.1% are all wins for Ethereum’s modular strategy.

Trading Volume Tells a Different Story

If you zoom in on DEX volumes, Ethereum Layer 1 is losing ground.

Ethereum DEXs process around $3 billion/day, while BSC leads with $5.7 billion/day, and Solana isn’t far behind at $3.3 billion/day, according to DefiLlama. Ethereum still lags behind BSC and barely beats Solana when adding Base and Arbitrum DEX volumes. Meanwhile, Hyperliquid and SUI are closing in with over $500 million each, all signs that on-chain trading has migrated to faster, cheaper rails.

DEX trading volumes by chain today contrast sharply with the breakdown in December 2021, when Ethereum handled the majority of on-chain trading volume.

DEX trading volume by chain

TVL ≠ Usage Anymore

This divergence tells us something important: TVL is no longer the best metric to measure DeFi activity.

Today’s DeFi is high-frequency, capital-light, and increasingly composable. Protocols like Ethena and Hyperliquid generate massive volumes without requiring billions locked in a vault. The focus has shifted from capital parked to capital flowing.

And this trend is just beginning. As lending protocols advance toward unsecured or undercollateralized lending, expect even less capital to sit idle. That means even lower TVL may support even higher usage. It’s a paradigm shift from DeFi 2021, when capital efficiency was a meme, to 2025, where it’s table stakes.

The new DeFi is leaner, faster, more distributed, and more experimental. And that’s exactly what makes it fun again.

With love,

Cami, founder of The Defiant

🎬WATCH

Robinhood’s Big Crypto Bet with CEO Vlad Tenev

On the latest episode of The Defiant Podcast, The Defiant founder Cami Russo sat down with Vlad Tenev, co-founder and CEO of Robinhood, in Cannes to explore the firm’s recently announced major crypto moves, including bringing tokenized U.S. stocks to the EU and launching its own Ethereum L2 with Arbitrum tech.

From tokenized private shares to the long-term vision of blockchain adoption, Vlad shares insights on regulation, innovation, and the battle between Robinhood and Coinbase.

Money is Infrastructure: Unlocking the Future of Stablecoins with M0 Founder Luca Prosperi

Watch the full interview on YouTube here. [SPONSORED]

Top News in Web3

Crypto Markets Correct as New US Data Show Inflation Increase Cryptocurrency markets dipped today with total market cap down over 6% as investors weighed fresh U.S. inflation data, while also digesting new trade measures from President Donald Trump. BTC dropped 3% to trade near $116,000, while ETH remained flat around $3,000.
DeFi TVL Surges Past $126B, up over 45% Since April Total value locked in the DeFi sector has surged from $86 billion in April to over $126 billion as of July 15 – a more than 46% increase in just three months, with lending platform Aave leading the pack. DeFi TVL reached nearly $180 billion in November 2021, when the price of ETH also peaked at over $4,800.
Arcadia Finance Hit by $3.5M Exploit Arcadia Finance, a DeFi platform on Base, suffered what it’s calling “unauthorized transactions” this morning, resulting in the loss of about $3.5 million, according to blockchain security firm CertiK.
Traders Predict Incoming ‘Supply Crunch’ as Ether Rallies to $3,000 As spot ETH ETFs continue to see strong inflows, more ETH treasury firms stockpile the leading altcoin, and price holds steady above $3,000, some traders say the rally is just getting started. Pointing to the massive institutional accumulation outpacing ETH issuance, Daily Gwei founder Anthony Sassano said: “There is an ETH supply shock brewing that is going to catch absolutely everyone off-guard[.]”