$AAVE DeFi Quietly Changed — And Most People Missed It
DeFi TVL didn’t just grow. It migrated.
In 2021, TVL was driven by activity: DEXs, CDPs, yield games, constant movement. Capital flowed because users were trading, farming, and rotating.
By 2025, the picture is completely different.
TVL is now dominated by lending, liquid staking, and restaking — balance-sheet infrastructure where capital sits passively and compounds over time. Protocols like Aave, Lido, and restaking layers aren’t chasing users… they’re optimizing capital efficiency.
This matters because:
- Lending mechanically inflates TVL via leverage loops
- Liquid staking keeps capital productive without selling
- Restaking monetizes already-staked assets with zero reallocation
TVL growth is no longer demand-driven. It’s structure-driven.
DeFi isn’t about activity anymore.
It’s about who controls the balance sheet.
And that’s a very different game.
Source: CryptoRank
#DeFi #TVL #Crypto