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Section · Coverage

DeFi

DeFi spent 2022-2024 in the wilderness — a combination of post-Terra trauma, regulatory pressure, and the simple fact that on-chain interest rates could not compete with 5% Treasury yields. The story changed in 2025.

Our DeFi coverage focuses on the protocols that actually generate fees, not the ones that generate token-incentive farms. We pay close attention to lending markets (Aave, Morpho, Compound), to DEX volume capture (Uniswap, Curve), to the stablecoin issuance layer (Maker/Sky, Frax, Liquity), and to the yield-bearing dollar protocols that have effectively become the cash-equivalent layer of on-chain finance.

A protocol is interesting if it generates protocol revenue (not just emissions) and if that revenue accrues somewhere defensible (token buybacks, fee switches, staking yields). Most "DeFi" projects fail this test. The ones that do not are the ones we cover.

What you will find here

  • TVL with quality adjustments — we strip out double-counting from restaking.
  • Stablecoin issuance dynamics — USDC, USDT, DAI/USDS, USDe, FRAX, LUSD, and the newer issuers.
  • Lending market analysis — utilisation rates, real borrow APYs, looped-leverage signals.
  • DEX volume & MEV — taker-volume by chain and venue, and how MEV capture is evolving (CoW Protocol, UniswapX, 1inch Fusion).
  • Restaking & LRTs — EigenLayer-adjacent protocols and whether the yields actually clear.

The composition of healthy DeFi

  • Stablecoin supply growing.
  • Lending utilisation above 60-70% on the major markets.
  • DEX volume not dominated by wash trading.
  • Stable or rising real yields.
  • Protocol revenue accruing to token holders.

Key protocols we follow

  • Aave — the dominant general-purpose lender.
  • Morpho — the rates-curator model.
  • Uniswap — the largest DEX.
  • Maker / Sky.
  • Ethena — synthetic dollar with funding-rate-derived yield.
  • Pendle — yield-tokenisation.

Related coverage

  • Ethereum — the platform most DeFi still runs on.
  • Layer 2 — where the majority of new DeFi user activity now sits.
  • Regulation — the policy debate that will determine the addressable market for on-chain finance.

For methodology see /methodology/. The morning briefing covers DeFi TVL and stablecoin supply every Monday.

Articles

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