Panoramic view of DeFi track project: DEX emerges as a sudden force, and the lending field continues to grow

Author: Cheeezzyyy

Compiled by: TechFlow

DeFi has made significant progress since 2021’s “DeFi Summer.”

Today, DeFi has formed several mature areas that are achieving self-sustaining growth and activity. However, the entire crypto field is still in its early stages compared to traditional finance (TradFi). Currently, the total market value of cryptocurrencies is about $3.3 trillion, while TradFi has a market value of $133 trillion.

The core goal of DeFi is to solve the inefficiency problem of traditional finance through innovative and efficient systems. These solutions have demonstrated significant product market fit (PMF) in several areas.

Key areas of DeFi often show an oligopoly market structure, and the following are the latest developments in various fields.

The competitive landscape of decentralized exchanges (DEXs)

In the fourth quarter of 2024, @RaydiumProtocol became the new leader in the DEX market, accounting for about 61% of the trading volume market share, successfully surpassing @Uniswap .

However, Raydium's total lockout (TVL) is only 39% of Uniswap. This contrast may be related to the Memecoin craze on @solana , but its long-term market performance remains to be seen.

The winner of Perp DEX

In the perpetual contract DEX market, @HyperliquidX is the undisputed winner. Since the third quarter of 2024, Hyperliquid's market share soared from 24% to 73%, achieving a three-fold increase.

At the same time, the overall transaction volume of Perp DEX is also growing rapidly. From $4 billion a day in the fourth quarter of 2024 to $8 billion now, Hyperliquid is challenging the centralized exchange (CEX) and gradually becoming an important price discovery platform.

Continuous growth in the lending sector

In the lending field, @aave 's dominance continues to increase. Since 2024, its market share has increased significantly in terms of deposits and borrowing:

• Deposit market share increased from 42.1% to 65.78%

• Borrowing market share grew from 31% to 61%

Although Aave offers yields that aren’t the most attractive in the market, its long-established reputation and user trust make it the platform of choice for lending.

@pendle_fi is leading the earnings track, with its total lock-in value (TVL) on Ethereum ($ETH) reaching an all-time high of approximately $1.59 million.

Its core competitiveness lies in becoming the preferred promoter of value discovery in the field, and is able to maintain an all-time high TVL even as the DeFi industry slows overall and market sentiment is sluggish. This fully demonstrates the high degree of fit between its products and market demand (PMF).

Liquid staking is currently the largest track in DeFi, with a total value of approximately US$35 billion in TVL.

In this track, @LidoFinance is a well-deserved leader, accounting for about 70% of the market share and almost monopolizes the liquid staking token (LST) market. Lido's TVL hit $24.8 billion, 5.17 times the $bETH ($4.8 billion) of its next rival @binance .

Lido's dominance is not based on pledge proceeds, but is due to the asset value of $stETH:

• Optimal Asset Utilization : $stETH is the most widely used asset in the DeFi ecosystem.

• Most trusted services : As an institution-level staking solution, Lido is the first choice for funds and businesses.

In this area, credibility and trust are key to driving user adoption.

In the field of Liquid Restaking, we have observed a similar trend.

It is particularly worth noting that @ether_fi 's market share continues to grow, increasing from 35.3% to 63%. Even after the stakedrop activity of S1 and S2, its TVL grew by about 770% in 2024.

The main factors driving this growth include:

• First-mover advantage in ecosystems such as @eigenlayer , @symbioticfi and @Karak_Network .

• Deep integration with the DeFi protocol.

• High trust in product suite.

@Lombard_Finance 's performance in the BTC-Fi field is gradually approaching the trend of the LST (liquid staking token) and LRT (liquid restaking token) tracks, with its market share steadily rising to 49.5%.

With the continued growth of @babylonlabs_io (currently a market capitalization of $5.5 billion), demand for Bitcoin ($BTC) as a top crypto-secured asset is expected to see exponential growth. In the future, market opportunities in this sector may reach as high as US$2 trillion.

@Lombard_Finance has successfully mastered the strategy of dominating the track.

Its token $LBTC is the most widely integrated, most frequently used and security-centric LRT in the DeFi ecosystem. This advantage makes Lombard an iconic asset similar to $stETH , able to win the trust of institutions and achieve widespread adoption.

In general, the various tracks of DeFi have gradually found their own positioning and complement each other and develop together as a complete ecosystem.

This marks the rise of a completely new financial model that is subverting traditional centralized finance (CeFi), and we are fortunate to be witnesses to this change.

As DeFi enters its next expansion phase, we will see more attempts to explore new areas, including developing untouched markets and even deep integration with CeFi:

• @ethena_labs plans to integrate traditional financial payments capabilities into its products.

• @Mantle_Official launches the Mantle Index Fund and Mantle Bank, aiming to combine cryptocurrencies with traditional financial services.

In addition, more and more institutions are beginning to pay attention to DeFi, such as @BlackRock's participation in DeFi layout through $BUIDL, DeFi portfolio launched by @worldlibertyfi , and spot ETFs. These trends all show that the future development potential of DeFi is worth looking forward to.