DeFi | Crypto

DeFi TVL reached a record $237 billion in the third quarter of 2025, but DApp wallet activity fell 22% as SocialFi and AI DApps lost momentum. The decentralized application (DApp) industry ended the third quarter of 2025 with mixed results, as decentralized finance (DeFi) liquidity surged to a record high while user activity fell sharply, according to new data from DappRadar. In a report sent to Cointelegraph, DappRadar said that daily unique active wallets averaged 18.7 million in Q3, down 22.4% compared to the second quarter. Meanwhile, DeFi protocols collectively locked in $237 billion, the highest total value locked (TVL) ever recorded in the space.  The report highlights an ongoing divergence between institutional capital flowing into blockchain-based financial platforms and the engagement of retail users with DApps. While DeFi TVL reached record levels of liquidity, overall activity lagged, suggesting weaker retail participation. Read more

Fully Homomorphic Encryption could unlock trillions in traditional finance for DeFi by enabling private lending, encrypted credit scores and confidential transactions. Opinion by: Jason Delabays, blockchain ecosystem lead at Zama Despite decentralized finance’s (DeFi) recent resurgence, most capital in traditional finance remains out of reach. Most will blame scalability, regulation or poor UX. The real blocker is far more fundamental: a lack of confidentiality. Solve that, and trillions will be unlocked.  At its December 2021 peak, DeFi’s total value locked (TVL) hit an incredible $260 billion. Zoom out, however, and that figure starts to feel small, especially when the global financial system moves trillions every day. Foreign exchange alone sees over $7.5 trillion traded daily, and the global bond market’s worth more than $130 trillion. Read more

XRP is entering a new development phase as its ecosystem embraces DeFi products and strategically moves into real-world asset (RWA) tokenization. These steps aim to give the long-standing digital asset practical roles beyond cross-border payments, a shift that could determine its future relevance in global finance. XRP DeFi expansion The introduction of mXRP, a liquid […] The post Ripple finally finds DeFi traction as XRP staking vault tops $30M appeared first on CryptoSlate.

1inch co-founder Sergej Kunz said centralized crypto exchanges will gradually fade and serve only as frontends for decentralized finance. Centralized crypto exchanges could disappear within the next decade as decentralized finance (DeFi) aggregators take over, according to 1inch co-founder Sergej Kunz. In an interview with Cointelegraph at Token2049 in Singapore, Kunz predicted that exchanges will slowly transition into frontends for decentralized exchanges (DEXs). “I think it will take like five to 10 years,” he said. Kunz argued that while centralized exchanges are isolated markets, 1inch and its aggregator act as a global liquidity hub. His comments came as 1inch announced a deal with major US crypto exchange Coinbase, integrating its service to provide DEX trading to its users. Read more

Pi Network has rolled out two new capabilities on its testnet, including a decentralized exchange (DEX) and an automated market maker (AMM), according to a Sept. 30 statement. These additions create a sandbox for token swaps, liquidity pools, and other DeFi experiments without putting the mainnet at risk. The update arrives as the Pi Coin faces […] The post Pi Network arms its testnet with a DEX and AMM for DeFi innovation appeared first on CryptoSlate.

XRP holders eager for yield opportunities have quickly embraced mXRP, the first liquid staking token native to the token’s ecosystem. On Sept. 25, blockchain infrastructure provider Axelar revealed that the product’s initial vault of 6.5 million tokens filled within two days of launch, forcing it to raise the cap to 10 million. Notably, the total […] The post XRP’s DeFi utility sparks as liquid staking vault nears $20 million appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Programmable yield, automated compliance, and access to FedNow could bring decentralized finance, or “DeFi,” into the financial mainstream.

The Cardano Foundation has proposed allocating 50 million ADA (worth about $40.5 million) to a new liquidity fund to expand stablecoin adoption and DeFi activity on the network. The Foundation argued that deeper liquidity remains one of the blockchain network ecosystem’s most urgent needs. It added that an expanded stablecoin supply could bolster Cardano adoption […] The post Cardano’s roadmap reveals $50 million liquidity push for stablecoins, DeFi and RWA appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Aave reached $30.5 billion in active loans on Sept. 18, representing 65% of the $46.72 billion in total active loans across decentralized protocols. Data from Token Terminal shows that the lending protocol maintains a comfortable lead over competitors. Its nearest rival, Morpho, holds less than $5 billion in active loans. Aave also commands a total […] The post Aave active loans hit record $30.5B, commanding 65% of DeFi lending market appeared first on CryptoSlate.

The crypto exchange integrates Morpho lending into its app, letting USDC users tap DeFi yields of up to 10.8%. Coinbase is rolling out a new way for users to earn yields on their USDC holdings, marking one of the exchange’s first large-scale integrations with decentralized finance (DeFi) at a time of accelerating stablecoin adoption. The company announced Thursday that it is integrating the Morpho lending protocol, with vaults curated by DeFi advisory company Steakhouse Financial, directly into the Coinbase app. The move will allow users to lend USDC (USDC) without navigating third-party DeFi platforms or wallets. Coinbase already pays up to 4.5% APY in rewards for holding USDC on its platform. With the new DeFi lending option, however, users can tap into onchain markets and potentially earn yields of up to 10.8% as of Wednesday, according to Coinbase. Read more

The DeFi market is stabilizing at $160.56 billion in TVL, but data shows a liquidity split between spot and derivatives, while collateral remains clustered in just a few major venues. Meanwhile, spot, perpetuals, and stablecoin bases are expanding in parallel, suggesting that order flow and collateral are recycled across fewer but more efficient protocols. The […] The post DeFi looks vast with $160B in TVL but capital concentrates in a handful of protocols appeared first on CryptoSlate.

AI-powered DeFi creates new security risks. This calls for transparent, rigorous auditing to protect decentralized systems. Opinion by: Jason Jiang, chief business officer of CertiK Since its inception, the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem has been defined by innovation, from decentralized exchanges (DEXs) to lending and borrowing protocols, stablecoins and more.  The latest innovation is DeFAI, or DeFi powered by artificial intelligence. Within DeFAI, autonomous bots trained on large data sets can significantly improve efficiency by executing trades, managing risk and participating in governance protocols.  Read more

Arbitrum, the largest Ethereum layer-2 protocol, has launched a new initiative designed to channel liquidity into decentralized finance. The DeFi Renaissance Incentive Program (DRIP), announced on Sept. 3, will allocate up to $40 million in rewards to users performing targeted on-chain actions rather than simply generating attention. The program, structured by Entropy and powered by […] The post Arbitrum launches $40M DeFi incentive amid intensifying L2 race appeared first on CryptoSlate.

The Federal Reserve Board announced on Sept. 3 that it will host a payments innovation conference on Oct. 21, where it will discuss stablecoins, DeFi, and tokenization. The conference will feature panel discussions on the convergence of traditional and decentralized finance, emerging stablecoin use cases and business models, artificial intelligence applications in payments, and tokenization […] The post Fed includes stablecoins and DeFi in October conference on payments innovation appeared first on CryptoSlate.

The following is a guest post and analysis from Vincent Maliepaard, Marketing Director at Sentora. 2025 has marked a turning point for XRP, combining explosive price gains with transformative shifts in its core narrative. In July, the token hit an all-time high of $3.58, propelled in part by decisive legal victories. Beyond price action, Ripple’s […] The post What’s behind XRP’s move to DeFi? appeared first on CryptoSlate.

The following is a guest post and opinion from Slavik Baranov, CEO at STON.fi Dev. From Gaming Phenomenon to Financial Ambition In 2024, the TON blockchain became one of the most talked-about ecosystems in crypto — not because of a groundbreaking DeFi protocol, but thanks to the meteoric rise of viral tap-to-earn games on Telegram. […] The post Is TON’s DeFi ready to lead a true financial revolution? appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Permissionless financial protocols will survive government and corporate efforts to impose traditional financial controls on DeFi. Decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols will survive government and corporate efforts to impose traditional financial regulations designed to create a walled garden of permissioned digital systems, according to Will Reeves, CEO and co-founder of Bitcoin (BTC) rewards company Fold.  Reeves told Cointelegraph that regulatory proposals requiring DeFi protocols to embed biometric identity checks within smart contracts, or other similar traditional financial (TradFi) regulations, will backfire, as did efforts to control the spread of information on the internet.  He also warned that governments and legacy financial institutions will use TradFi incentives to drive people to permissioned custody through traditional investment vehicles like exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which have benefits over holding crypto directly, including use as collateral for loans. He added: Read more

Crypto exchange-traded fund (ETF) issuers are likely to partner with centralized staking providers following approval, but will eventually pivot to decentralized protocols as regulatory frameworks mature. The Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Aug. 5 statement that liquid staking activities and staking receipt tokens do not constitute securities offerings removed the final regulatory hurdle for staking-enabled […] The post Crypto staking ETF launch strategy prioritizes centralized partners over immediate DeFi adoption appeared first on CryptoSlate.

The following is a guest post and analysis from Shane Neagle, Editor In Chief from The Tokenist. Although the Terra (LUNA) collapse pricked the crypto bubble in May 2022, it took the FTX exchange catastrophe to firmly pop it at the year’s end. Ever since, the blockchain narrative has been supplanted by the AI hype. […] The post DeFi resurgence 2025: Layer-1 leaders poised for a post-Biden comeback appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Critics warn the US Treasury’s push to embed ID checks into DeFi smart contracts could erode privacy and hollow out permissionless finance. The US Treasury is exploring whether identity checks should be built directly into decentralized finance (DeFi) smart contracts, a move critics warn could rewrite the very foundations of permissionless finance. Last week, the agency opened a consultation under the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins Act (GENIUS Act), which was signed into law in July. The Act directs the Treasury to evaluate new compliance tools to fight illicit finance in crypto markets. One idea was embedding identity credentials directly into smart contracts. In practice, this would mean a DeFi protocol could automatically verify a user’s government ID, biometric credential, or digital wallet certificate before allowing a transaction to proceed. Read more