The total volume immobilized on DeFi protocols has again reached record levels.
According to the data reported by DeFiLlama, in the last few days, the total volume has once again exceeded 150 billion dollars.
These are similar levels to those touched in mid-May when ETH, BNB, and other cryptocurrencies or tokens related to the world of decentralized finance recorded their absolute historical highs in price.
Right now, for example, ETH’s price is 28% lower than its May 12 high, while BNB’s is 29% lower than its May 10 high.
Despite this, the $150 billion total volume of assets tied up on DeFi protocols was surpassed on August 22, topping the record high of $154 billion set in mid-May.
DeFi’s blockchains: Ethereum and Binance above all else
DeFiLlama monitors many different decentralized finance protocols on different blockchains, starting with Ethereum and Binance Smart Chain and passing by Avalanche, Solana, Polygon, Terra, and many others.
At the beginning of 2021, the total TVL was just over 20 billion, but already hugely up from $0.6 billion at the beginning of 2020.
The first boom of the year was there until February 21, when $60 billion was exceeded for the first time.
Bitcoin’s (non-existent) role in DeFi
After a brief and minimal downturn, the TVL returned to growth, surpassing $100 billion in mid-April, roughly coinciding with Bitcoin’s all-time price high.
However, it must be said that Bitcoin does not play a significant role in the DeFi world, at least for now, because it is mainly ETH and BNB that dominate this sector while waiting for ADA also to express itself in this world when smart contracts on the Cardano network are finally launched.
After first exceeding 150 billion in mid-May, the TVL had collapsed below $90 billion only ten days later. Although this was a 40% collapse in less than two weeks, $90 billion is still four and a half times the $20 billion at the beginning of the year.
Until July 20, the TVL had struggled to exceed $100 billion again, but then it soared anew. Suffice it to say that since then, the price of ETH has risen by 77% and that of BNB by as much as 81%.
Solana’s blockchain in DeFi
Solana is experiencing interesting growth. In fact, the TVL on Solana-based DeFi protocols has increased from $1.6 billion in mid-May to $2.5 billion a few days ago, making a real surge from $0.5 billion at the end of June. However, it still remains far from the $110 billion of Ethereum or the $19 billion of Binance Smart Chain.
Note that it is precisely the Binance Smart Chain that seems to be declining, as current TVL levels are still well below the record high of nearly $30 billion in mid-May. It almost seems that the hype generated around DeFi on Binance Smart Chain in the past months was excessive and that the current hype is more in line with the actual usage of these protocols.
Avalanche has had the most remarkable growth, going from $0.4 billion in mid-May to the current $1.8 billion, an increase of four and a half times.
In the third position after Ethereum and Binance Smart Chain, there is Terra, with about 6 billion dollars.
