
Every month, we’re diving deep into the state of DeFi. As the sector continues to evolve, we’re bringing the biggest updates to you in one place so you have more clarity.
This is a new endeavor, so we’re all ears for making it even better. If you’d like to see any specific stats, updates or information, let us know at [email protected].
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DeFi Stats We’re Watching
Total value locked in DeFi: $124.882B
Monthly DEX volume: $11.48B
Monthly perp volume: $35.27B
Aave: $34.77B
Lido: $27.97B
EigenCloud: $13.47B
Chain | Inflow | Outflow | Netflow |
|---|---|---|---|
Polygon PoS | $474.4M | $319.7M | $154.8M |
Ink | $221.8M | $134.6M | $87.3M |
Hyperliquid | $3B | $2.91B | $80.3 |
Solana: $119.88M
Hyperliquid: $55.29M
BSC: $26.88M
The metrics are accurate at the time of publication.
Noteworthy DeFi Developments
World Liberty Fi launched World Liberty Markets on January 12. The platform lets people lend or borrow its USD1 stablecoin, as well as other assets like WLFI, ETH, cbBTC, USDC and USDT, to earn up to 4% APY. This aims to make loans more accessible to institutions and everyday users, enabling borrowers to get cash without selling their crypto.
Coinbase is expanding its decentralized exchange to include Solana. The initial launch will use Jupiter for liquidity, with support for cross-chain swaps between Solana, Ethereum and Base. This update provides more access to trading, lowering the steps required to move from chain to chain.
Lido passed a governance vote for implementing stVaults, a system that lets users choose how their staked ETH is managed. Users can choose operators or strategies to optimize rewards while maintaining the same level of security and decentralization. The system is designed to improve capital efficiency, providing flexibility for different investment plans based on risk tolerance.
A DeFi App We Tried in January: Trove
What it does: Trove is a Hyperliquid-built decentralized perpetual trading exchange that enables trading for illiquid markets such as trading cards, watches or handbags. The platform uses a set of aggregated oracles to track the price of assets and displays them as an index fund.
Our thoughts on the product: One of our research analysts discovered Trove after its initial coin offering and tested out the platform. It presents an easy to use user interface and has a similar onboarding to Hyperliquid.
When connecting a wallet, it lets users create and monitor trades on the same screen, which proves helpful for monitoring potential volatility, as you can close a trade if it has a large volume spike immediately, instead of having to navigate through multiple screens.
Illiquid markets like Charizard Pokemon cards or Birkin bags were hard to trade previously, unless you had direct exposure by obtaining the asset. Trove opens the door for more users to speculate on real-world assets, which we found helpful for assets that require a large upfront cost to acquire. Similar to owning a fractional share of a stock, you might have a trade idea for a Charizard Pokemon card, but don’t have the capital to acquire one and trade the market, yet we liked that Trove lets you.
Stats on the project:
Trading volume (30d): $1.54B
Users (30d): 42.6K
Disclaimer: This section reflects our analysts’ subjective impressions from testing apps and differs from our otherwise fact-driven content. Opinions are based on our evaluation; readers should conduct their own research.

More DeFi Updates
Aave’s V4 liquidation engine now allows users to repay loans using a Target Health Factor
MacBrennan Peet, founder of Project 0, spoke on the Talking Tokens podcast about why DeFi users fragment risk when they trade across different markets
Securitize introduced stock trading on its platform, enabling regulated issued shares to be traded directly onchain
Coinbase will use Chainlink's Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP) as the exclusive bridging solution for Coinbase Wrapped Assets for cross-chain transfers
Polymarket had its best month of all-time in December for DEX volume, reaching $2.28B
Jordi Alexander, founder of Selini Capital, spoke with The Rollup about what token buybacks are, how onchain revenue tokens are contributing to DeFi growth, and where neo-finance sits in all of this
DeFi word of the month:
Liquidity Provider: Also known as an LP, this is a user or entity that deposits tokens into a pool of capital that can be used to enable trading while earning a share of the transaction fees generated by swaps.
Used in a sentence: John became a liquidity provider by depositing ETH and USDC into the pool, earning a portion of trading fees while his tokens remained onchain.
This is the State of DeFi. January Edition.
This product was built by Token Relations.
This information is for entertainment purposes only. It should not be considered financial advice, nor should it be used to make investment decisions. Cryptocurrencies are high risk and you should consult a financial professional before making any financial decisions. Make sure you do your own research.
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