DeFi TVL is back around $95.8B, still only ~53% of the ~$180B 2021 peak. If DeFi summer narrative come back right now, the actual comeback might looks much more boring because the industry already matured. – $55.3B sitting in lending protocols – $24.2B of active loans across @aave, @Morpho, @sparkfinance etc – $50B across liquid staking protocol At current stage, capital isn't just parking there waiting for emissions. Borrowers are actually paying for balance sheet. This is probably the biggest difference versus old DeFi Summer. 2020 yield was mostly: deposit liquidity → protocol prints token → farmer dumps token. The current stack: ETH can become stETH → restaked → wrapped into an LRT → deposited into lending → borrowed against → turned into a Pendle PT/YT position. One original ETH can leave footprints across 5 protocols. I called this matured industry because debt outstanding, utilization, fees, stablecoin growth and whether the yield still exists after incentives disappear. – 34% of all ETH is already staked – @LidoFinance has ~9.74M ETH (56.7%), $26.8B TVL and 641K+ stakers At this point LSTs are the yield-bearing monetary base of ETH DeFi. Any ETH holder can earn staking yield, stays liquid, becomes collateral, then that collateral can finance the rest of the stack. Solana is building the same thing from another direction. – @kamino has ~$1.5B TVL + $1.05B loans – @jito ~$1.22B TVL and +25.7% in 30d – @sanctumso ~$2.16B and +31.1% The staking → LST → credit loop is becoming multi-chain infra rather than an ETH-only trade. Where I’m much less convinced is restaking. – @eigencloud has ~$7.2B TVL, did ~$211K fees in the latest 30d – @symbioticfi with ~$483M TVL, 80+ vaults, 74K+ stakers, but only ~$108K monthly fees – the whole restaking sector is only ~$11B. Market say no to the external security itself pays enough to justify another level of smart contract, slashing, liquidity and depeg risk. Which also explains why the LRT market got smoked down to a few real survivors. DeFi yield now is becoming a market for yield on digital dollars. – @ethena is back ~$5.36B TVL, +23.5% in 30d and doing ~$19.5M monthly fees. – RWAs are sitting at ~$30B active AUM. Capital can choose between USDC lending, Sky savings, sUSDe, @pendle_fi fixed yield, tokenized Treasuries, LST carry etc. Different risk engines competing to produce onchain yield. And TradFi actually makes that competition harder. – 13-week T-bills are 4.12%, – native ETH staking is only ~2.3% – a random 2-3% stablecoin farm is just taking smart-contract risk to underperform cash The sustainable DeFi yield zone probably needs to live closer to 6–8% without heavy emissions before it starts looking genuinely attractive. Double digit APY still needs to be dissected because somewhere inside it there's usually leverage, duration, funding risk, incentives or all four. This is why I think the next traditional DeFi cycle might be a balance-sheet expansion. Stablecoins grow → loans outpace TVL → utilization/APYs rise → more LST/RWA/BTC collateral gets borrowed against → Pendle + fees accelerate → tokens capture value. We’re already seeing the first half, the second half still needs proof.

DeFi activity continues on #JustLendDAO# 📊 TVL: $7.56B Supply: $4.16B Borrowed: $204.11M 💰Daily rewards: 42,889 $USDD Liquidity grows. So do the opportunities built on top of it. 🔍Explore:

DeFi is renting its TVL and calling it growth. Emissions start. TVL rises. Dashboards light up. Rewards stop. The capital leaves. The protocol bought a spike, not a resident. For teams allocating incentive budgets, the real scorecard begins after emissions: → Wallet quality → Position duration → 30/60/90-day survival → Source attribution → Cost per retained dollar Our latest piece in The Defiant explains how targeting, campaign structure, caps and post-campaign measurement can turn incentives from rented liquidity into an accountable retention system. You paid for TVL. Do you know what you bought?

DeFi incentives used to mean exposure: public leaderboards, visible rewards, traceable balances. Not anymore. Confidential incentive campaigns for confidential vaults are now live on @merkl_xyz, powered by Zama. Earn rewards without exposing your position. Read more on our blog:

DeFi activity continues on #JustLendDAO# 📊 TVL: $7.12B Supply: $3.88B Borrowed: $192.72M 💰Daily rewards: 44,743 ethereum:0x4f8e5de400de08b164e7421b3ee387f461becd1a Liquidity grows. So do the opportunities built on top of it. 🔍Explore: