Following Bitcoin’s all-time high, DeFi TVL hits a record high above $233B

The total value locked in DeFi protocols soared to $233.8 billion as rising token prices and the increasing integration of stablecoins helped send the metric to a record high.

Bullish sentiment is running high across the cryptocurrency market on Oct. 20 as Bitcoin’s (BTC) surge to a new all-time high at $67,000 thrust the digital asset into uncharted territory and investors are closely watching to see how altcoins and DeFi tokens react to the move.

Crypto Fear & Greed Index. Source: Alternative.me

The DeFi sector has also benefited from BTC's bullish breakout and today the total value locked (TVL) across all DeFi protocols climbed to a new record-high.

According to data from DeFi Llama, which collects data from DeFi protocols across all major blockchain networks, including Binance Smart Chain (BSC), Avalanche (AVAX) and wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC), there is now more than $233.88 billion in value locked in protocols across the various blockchain networks. Currently, AAVE leads with $18.79 billion and Curve come in second place with $17.97 billion locked in value.

Total value locked in DeFi. Source: DeFi Llama

As a result of the surging price of Bitcoin, WBTC is now ranked fourth-ranked in terms of TVL with $14.51 billion in value being deployed across the DeFi landscape.

The biggest gainers in TVL over the past seven days were Trader Joe with a 57.2% increase  and Rari Capital which saw a 50.57% surge. Yield Yak also gained 36.52%. 

Top TVL gainers in the past 7 days. Source: Token Terminal

New users flow into DeFi

In addition to the rising token values, the DeFi ecosystem also saw a sharp increase in new user inflow and data from Dune Analytics shows that 3,591,876 unique wallets have now interacted with at least one DeFi protocol.

Total DeFi users over time. Source: Dune Analytics

Despite the inflow of new users, trading volumes across decentralized exchanges (DEX) have remained below the highs set in May and are currently lower than the activity seen in recent months as well.

Monthly DEX volume. Source: Dune Analytics

One possible explanation for this has been the increased focus on BTC over the past couple of months as speculation about when a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) would pass and whether or not BTC price will surpass $100,000 by the end of 2021 dominated conversations.

Stablecoin growth hints at future demand for crypto

Another factor contributing to DeFi's growth could be the steady integration and infusion of stablecoins.

There has been an interesting history of increases in the circulating supply of Tether coinciding in large part with run-ups in the price of Bitcoin, and this most recent rally is no exception because on the same day that BTC established a new all-time high, so to did the circulating supply of USDT.

Tether has just surpassed $70B market cap pic.twitter.com/R0gO3Nk2SB

— Chris (@ChrisBTCbull) October 20, 2021

The importance of stablecoins to the overall DeFi economy is also evidenced by the total value locked on Curve, which specifically deals with the creation of stablecoin pools for use across the ecosystem.

The overall cryptocurrency market cap now stands at $2.635 trillion and Bitcoin’s dominance rate is 47.5%.