- Liquid Staking protocols collectively are worth more than $21 billion, while DEXes only have some $18 billion locked on them.
- These protocols, led by Lido DAO, took off following the Ethereum Shapella upgrade, which enabled ETH staking withdrawal.
- Interestingly DEXes are not even holding the second spot as that is controlled by Lending protocols leading by $60 million.
The Decentralized Finance (DeFi) market had been the domain of Decentralized Exchanges (DEXes) for the longest time. The sudden emergence of Liquid Staking protocols, on the other hand, took the entire market by surprise as it not only grew immensely but also successfully managed to dethrone the DEX category from the top spot.
Liquid Staking is the new king of the DeFi market
Liquid Staking protocols saw a resurgence this year after the hype regarding the Ethereum Shanghai hardfork began impacting the market. So much so that year to date, protocols in this category have collectively noted a 147% increase in the total value locked (TVL) in them. Up from $8.8 billion at the beginning of the year, today, Liquid Staking protocols have over $21.8 billion locked on them.
DeFi market TVL distribution
This was enough to push DEXes out of the top spot, a position this category had dominated since November 2020. While Yield generating and Lending protocol at some points throughout the past two and a half years did attempt to take over, they ended up failing to do so. But Liquid Staking protocols success was all thanks to the Ethereum Shanghai hardfork, which enabled staking withdrawal. This boosted the overall confidence of investors in regard to staking.
However, even within the Liquid Staking market, most of the money locked is dominated by one protocol - Lido. The staking protocol is not only the biggest in its category, with a TVL of $14.88 billion, but the biggest Dapp in the entire market, surpassing and dethroning Aave, which has a TVL half of Lido - $6.11 billion.
Interestingly, at the time of writing, DEXes are not even the second biggest category of protocols in the DeFi market. That spot is held by Lending protocols which surpassed decentralized exchanges by some $60 million.
Top three DeFi protocol categories and their TVL
The broader market bearish conditions have been a contributing factor to these changes as investors have been attempting to make the most of their assets. Thus investing them in yield-generating protocols is a far better option than just leaving them on exchanges. Hence the funds shifted from DEXes to Liquid Staking and Lending protocols.
Like this article? Help us with some feedback by answering this survey:
Information on these pages contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Markets and instruments profiled on this page are for informational purposes only and should not in any way come across as a recommendation to buy or sell in these assets. You should do your own thorough research before making any investment decisions. FXStreet does not in any way guarantee that this information is free from mistakes, errors, or material misstatements. It also does not guarantee that this information is of a timely nature. Investing in Open Markets involves a great deal of risk, including the loss of all or a portion of your investment, as well as emotional distress. All risks, losses and costs associated with investing, including total loss of principal, are your responsibility. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of FXStreet nor its advertisers. The author will not be held responsible for information that is found at the end of links posted on this page.
If not otherwise explicitly mentioned in the body of the article, at the time of writing, the author has no position in any stock mentioned in this article and no business relationship with any company mentioned. The author has not received compensation for writing this article, other than from FXStreet.
FXStreet and the author do not provide personalized recommendations. The author makes no representations as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability of this information. FXStreet and the author will not be liable for any errors, omissions or any losses, injuries or damages arising from this information and its display or use. Errors and omissions excepted.
The author and FXStreet are not registered investment advisors and nothing in this article is intended to be investment advice.
Recommended Content
Editors’ Picks

Bitcoin recovers above $98,000 as Eric Trump encourages WLFI to add BTC
Bitcoin price recovers slightly, trading above $98,000 at the time of writing on Thursday after losing nearly 5% in the last two days. Eric Trump encouraged the addition of BTC to their family-backed crypto platform WLFI portfolio, which may be supporting Bitcoin’s recovery.

Bonk Price Forecast: 2.02 trillion BONK coins will be burn
Bonk price recovers slightly on Thursday after falling over 5% so far this week. BONK announces it will burn 2.02 trillion tokens to celebrate the BONKdragon event and the 2025 Lunar New Year.

Can XRP bounce back? SEC actions may favor Ripple in ongoing appeal
XRP is down 3% in the early hours of Thursday as crypto community members anticipate that the Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) appeal of the ruling in its case with Ripple will likely not stand following latest developments under the new administration.

Dogecoin price flashes death cross signal as Elon Musk grills US Treasury
Dogecoin price stabilized around the $0.26 level on Wednesday amid a 22% weekly decline as crypto markets tumbled further. Elon Musk’s latest ‘DOGE’ tweets amid an ongoing face-off with the US Treasury have sparked testy market reactions.

Bitcoin: BTC in positive tone ahead of third highest-returning month
Bitcoin (BTC) price hovers around $104,000 on Friday after bouncing off its 50-day Exponential Moving Average earlier this week. A K33 Research explains how Nvidia’s big drop in stock valuation this week, driven by DeepSeek, affected Bitcoin’s price.

The Best Brokers of the Year
SPONSORED Explore top-quality choices worldwide and locally. Compare key features like spreads, leverage, and platforms. Find the right broker for your needs, whether trading CFDs, Forex pairs like EUR/USD, or commodities like Gold.