Net deposits on the decentralized finance platform Aave have soared to $33.4 billion, setting a new record for the lending protocol and surpassing its previous high during the 2021 bull market. The surge comes alongside Aave’s expansion in 2024, as it added BNB Chain, Scroll, ZKsync Era, and ether.fi to its list of supported markets. There are further plans to potentially include additional markets in 2025, such as the Sonic network, Mantle, the Ethereum layer-2 scaling solution Linea, the Bitcoin layer-2 solution BOB, Spider Chain, and the Aptos layer-1 network, pending community approval.
The DeFi sector is undergoing a renaissance, with the total value locked experiencing a 150% increase in 2024, reaching approximately $130 billion. This growth is attributed to an increase in liquid staking protocols like EigenLayer and the development of Bitcoin DeFi products. Additionally, DeFi tokens have rallied by up to 30% following the results of the U.S. elections, stirred by expectations of a friendlier regulatory environment under Donald Trump’s administration.
Security in DeFi has also improved, with hacks dropping by 40% in 2024, a stark contrast to the increased monetary losses suffered by centralized exchanges during the same period. This improvement is due to enhanced protocols, stronger cryptographic measures, and more secure bridges, marking a positive trend for a sector often targeted by cyber threats.
As the DeFi landscape evolves, industry leaders speculate that the sector may soon explore revenue sharing models through fees associated with respective DeFi tokens, should comprehensive crypto legislation be enacted.
