DeFi Sees Record Liquidity Amid Declining User Activity
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The decentralized application (DApp) industry finished the third quarter of 2025 with mixed results. Though decentralized finance (DeFi) reached a record high in liquidity, user participation has seen a sharp decline.
According to a report by DappRadar, daily unique active wallets dropped by 22.4% from the second quarter, averaging 18.7 million in Q3. However, despite this drop, the total value locked (TVL) in DeFi protocols reaches $237 billion, marking the highest level ever recorded in the sector.
To this end, this divergence between rising institutional investment and shrinking retail user engagement is an important development.
Stablecoins and Institutional Growth Drive DeFi TVL to Record High
As it stands, a number of factors have been linked to the surge in DeFi’s total value locked, which can be especially attributed to the growing use of stablecoins. Cryptocurrencies, which have been pegged to real-world assets like the US dollar, have bridged the gap between crypto and traditional finance.
Also, the inflows recorded by Stablecoin have reached $46 billion in Q3, with a larger proportion of this flow traceable to Tether’s USDT and Circle’s USDC. Additionally, new platforms focused on stablecoins, like Plasma—a layer-1 blockchain designed specifically for them—also played a key role, with over $8 billion in TVL during its first month.
Ethereum and BNB Chain Show Strong DeFi Performance, While Solana Declines
In terms of DeFi TVL, Ethereum remained the top network with $119 billion, although its value decreased by 4% compared to its value in Q3. BNB Chain, however, showed notable growth, increasing its TVL by 15%. The rise of Aster, a new decentralized exchange on BNB Chain, contributed to this success.
On the other hand, Solana, which had been in second place, experienced a sharp 33% decline, dropping to $13.8 billion in TVL during Q3.
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