DeFi TVL up 10% in September to $133 billion

The DeFi ecosystem recorded a roughly 10% increase in total value locked across all major networks during September, with the total up $12 billion to $133 billion.

According to DefiLlama data, decentralized exchanges (DEX) and liquid staking protocols were the largest contributors to the increase in TVL.

Out of the 10 major blockchains by TVL, Solana, Base, Sui, and Aptos showed the largest percentage widening at the end of the third quarter.

Solana boosted by liquid staking

Solana’s DeFi ecosystem’s TVL grew 17.9% last month, surpassing the $10 billion threshold on Sept. 25 after staying below this level for roughly 30 days. The growth was mainly fueled by liquid staking protocols and DEXs.

Out of the 10 largest dApps on Solana by TVL, Raydium showed the most significant monthly growth, with TVL rising 42% to $1.2 billion, while Jupiter recorded a 20% increase in TVL to $1.2 billion, making it the third largest DEX on the network based on locked value.

On the liquid staking front, Sanctum saw a 31% rise in TVL, driven by the launch of centralized exchanges’ liquid staking tokens (LST), such as Binance Staked SOL and Bybit Staked SOL. Together, these tokens added roughly $115 million to Solana’s liquid staking sector.

Jito and Marinade also registered double-digit growth in TVL last month, with TVL up 12.4% and 17.1%, respectively.

Base breaches $2 billion

Ethereum layer-2 blockchain Base registered significant TVL growth this year, with a 420% year-to-date jump. The trend continued in September, with the network recording a 51% increase in TVL, which breached the $2 billion mark for the first time.

Similar to Solana, users’ locked funds on DEXs were the primary contributors to the growth, with an added push from from DeFi money market and yield protocols.

Aerodrome surpassed $1.1 billion in TVL during September, marking a 95.6% growth during the month and establishing itself as the largest dApp on Base.

Money market Aave also displayed a significant increase in TVL, up 43.3% last month, while Moonwell’s recorded a 47% monthly growth in TVL. Additionally, Extra Finance, a leveraged yield protocol available on Base, saw a 40% increase in TVL during the month.

Sui, Aptos

Move-based blockchain Sui showed the most relevant percentage gains among the 10 largest blockchains by TVL last month. It surpassed the $1 billion mark in TVL for the first time amid an 83% monthly growth.

Meanwhile, Aptos, another Move-based blockchain, grew considerably last month, reaching nearly $934 million in TVL after a 36.6% monthly growth rate.

Both networks were primarily boosted by heightened activity on DEXs and liquid staking protocols, with the top protocols recording significant increases in TVL.

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