DeFi TVL Surpasses $100 Billion as Bitcoin Hits $70,000

According to DefiLlama data, the total value locked (TVL) in decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols has reached $100.1 billion, with a volume of over $10 billion in the past 24 hours at the time of writing. However, these numbers still can’t compare to the record $189 billion set in November 2021.

Lido is leading with $38.7 billion locked on-chain, followed by EigenLayer betting ecosystem and the Aave protocol with respective locked amounts of over $11 billion.

This is the first time in almost two years that DeFi TVL has surpassed the $100 billion mark.The increase seems to be due to positive sentiment returning to the cryptocurrency market since Bitcoin futures-based exchange-traded fund (ETF) launched in January.

Institutional demand for Bitcoin ETF has pushed the cryptocurrency to an all-time high this week, reaching $70,000 on March 8.According to BitMEX Research, assets in the Bitcoin ETF increased to $28 billion on March 8. Analysis excluding assets from Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust, which was converted into an ETF in January from an over-the-counter (OTC) product.

This has led to rumors that OTC trading platforms are running out of Bitcoin and transitioning to public exchanges to fulfill customer orders. OTC platforms typically cater to large volume traders, such as institutional investors.