DeFi apps now holding 2.4 million ETH, worth $439 million

The adoption of decentralized financial applications on the blockchain keeps growing.

By Nicholas Fearn

2 min read

The amount of Ethereum (ETH) stored in decentralized finance applications has hit a new all-time high. According to DeFi Pulse, the amount of Ethereum locked in DeFi apps has reached 2.4 million ETH for the first time, worth $439 million.

In September, the amount of Ethereum used by DeFi apps hit 2.13 million ETH, up from lows of 1.8 million ETH that year. But since then, more users have ramped up their usage of DeFi protocols, to lend, borrow and trade their money with strangers around the world. And as more Ethereum gets sucked up into these apps, this momentum validates this nascent technology even more.

Looking at the data, the majority of Ethereum in DeFi is stored in Maker, which currently has $335.4 million locked up, making up 52.6% of the market. This is used within DAI, an algorithmic stablecoin pegged to the US dollar, that doesn’t rely on keeping a bunch of dollars in a bank to keep its value.

Its nearest competitor, Compound, is the only other DeFi platform to be storing over $100 million of Ethereum. Compound is a platform for lending and borrowing Ethereum, DAI, Coinbase’s USDC stablecoin and other coins. Other lending apps taking large shares of the market include InstaDApp ($33.7 million), dYdX ($29.9 million) and NuoNetwork ($9.9 million). 

Although lending apps dominate the DeFi sector, other types of applications are also growing. Synthetix is a decentralized trading platform that has $99.4 of Ethereum locked in its platform.  

Meanwhile, cryptocurrency exchange Uniswap has $24.9 million stored. The rest of the top ten that have Ethereum locked up include Bancor ($5.8 million) and Wrapped Bitcoin ($5.8 million).

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