The decentralized finance (DeFi) sector hit a significant milestone on March 9 as the total value locked (TVL) in DeFi protocols soared past $100 billion, indicating renewed enthusiasm in the crypto market. However, this achievement still lags behind the record high of $189 billion set in November 2021. The TVL in DeFi protocols skyrocketed to $100.1 billion, with a trading volume of over $10 billion within the past 24 hours, as reported by DefiLlama data.
Notably, leading the pack in terms of locked value were Liquid staking protocol Lido, EigenLayer, and the Aave protocol, with $38.7 billion, over $11 billion, and over $11 billion respectively. The surge in DeFi TVL comes amid a bullish sentiment in the crypto market, fueled by the rising demand for Bitcoin. The launch of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in January has notably contributed to this sentiment, propelling Bitcoin to new all-time highs, breaching the $70,000 mark on March 8.
BitMEX Research data revealed that assets in Bitcoin ETFs surged to $28 billion on March 8, excluding assets from Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust. Social media speculation suggests that over-the-counter (OTC) trading platforms are facing shortages of Bitcoin, leading them to turn to public exchanges to fulfill client orders. The unprecedented surge in Bitcoin’s price has led to increased trading volumes, causing several centralized crypto exchanges, including Binance, Coinbase, Kraken, and Bybit, to experience outages.
To cope with the surge in demand, Crypto.com CEO Kris Marszalek disclosed the hiring of 480 additional customer representatives. Ivo Crnkovic-Rubsamen, chief strategy officer and technical lead for trading at dYdX exchange, highlighted the intensified rate of order placements and cancels by algorithmic trading firms to maintain positions amid the rapid price movements.