DeFi TVL chart — live, with the full history
DeFi TVL is the total US-dollar value of assets deposited across every DeFi protocol and chain: collateral, liquidity and staked funds. It is the single cleanest gauge of how much real capital the on-chain economy has attracted. As of 2026-07-18 it sits around $74.9B, up about 2.4% over the last 30 days. The live chart below runs back to 2018 and updates every day.
Source: aggregated on-chain data: total value locked across all chains, updated daily. Current figure from the desk's own snapshot, refreshed every ten minutes.
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How to read it
▲ Rising TVL
Capital is flowing into on-chain protocols: new deposits, or the price of assets already deposited rising. Sustained growth is the clearest sign DeFi is attracting money and trust rather than shedding it.
▼ Falling TVL
Assets are being withdrawn, or the price of deposited collateral is dropping. A sharp drain often front-runs a risk-off move or flags a protocol losing users to better yield elsewhere.
Because TVL is denominated in dollars, it moves for two reasons: real inflows and outflows, and the price of the assets already locked. In a rally, TVL can climb without a single new dollar arriving, everything deposited simply went up. Read the direction alongside price, and remember TVL is a proxy for traction, not revenue. Incentive farming, looping and token-price inflation can all pad the number.
The landmarks
Hover the chart to read any date; the rough milestones:
| Era? | What TVL did? | What it meant? |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 (DeFi summer) | Exploded from under $1B | Yield farming bootstrapped the first real on-chain capital base |
| Nov 2021 peak | ~$180B all-time high | Maximum leverage and risk appetite across the cycle |
| 2022 (LUNA, FTX) | Collapsed ~80% | Deleveraging, contagion and a flight out of on-chain risk |
| 2023–2026 | Rebuilt to ~$74.9B | A slower, more collateral-driven recovery led by staking and RWAs |
How to read a row → Nov 2021 peak · ~$180B ATH: at the top of the last bull cycle DeFi held a record ~$180B — the high-water mark today's ~$74.9B is measured against.
Where else to track it
| Tool? | Best for? | Notable? |
|---|---|---|
| top traders | Live total DeFi TVL back to 2018 + how to read it | $0 by promo, daily, desk explainer; open on-chain data |
| Open on-chain data aggregators | Per-chain and per-protocol TVL breakdowns | The canonical open TVL source |
| Token Terminal | TVL next to fees and revenue | Fundamentals framing; partial paywall |
How to read a row → Token Terminal · TVL next to fees and revenue: reach for it when you want TVL framed against fundamentals, but expect a partial paywall.
FAQ
Changes our view when
TVL rises on price rather than on deposits. The number is denominated in dollars, so a rally lifts it without a single new coin being locked. We compare TVL against token-unit flows and against the top protocol's share before reading a rise as adoption. Concentration is the other tell: TVL climbing while it pools into one protocol is a single-venue risk, not a sector recovering.
The TT desk thoughts
We treat aggregate TVL as a weather report, not a trade. The number that matters is net new capital: deposits stripped of token-price effects: and where it is rotating: from farms into staking, from one chain to another, from speculation into RWAs. A rising total built on a rising token is not the same as a rising total built on stablecoin inflows. Pair this with our TVL definition for the full read.