In September 2024, the DeFi TVL sector recorded a total value-locked increase of almost 10% and reached $133 billion. According to data from DefiLlama, this $12 billion leap was contributed by decentralized exchanges and liquid staking protocols. This growth is highly contributed to by the leading blockchain ecosystems: Solana, Base, Sui, and Aptos.
Key Contributors to DeFi Growth
DeFi ecosystems built on Move-based blockchains, notably Aptos and Sui, contributed meaningfully to the overall rise in TVL throughout the month. Move is a programming language created by Facebook now known as Meta-and was adopted by some blockchain networks for heightened levels of security and performance. Blockchains have become busier, with DEX and staking protocols in particular helping fuel their TVL growth.
Among the top 10 blockchains by TVL, Solana, Base, Sui, and Aptos saw the highest percentage increases at the end of the third quarter. Their respective ecosystems have ballooned rapidly, and they contributed significantly to the $12 billion growth in DeFi TVL across all networks.
Liquid Staking Powers Up Solana’s Growth
It is one of the largest DeFi TVL ecosystems and went up an astonishing 17.9% in TVL last month. That takes the total DeFi TVL of the network over the $10 billion mark, which was below for a month until September 25. Liquid staking protocols and DEX drove Solana’s growth.
Major decentralized applications in Solana’s DeFi ecosystem were in green: For example, Raydium, the leading DEX on the network, was up 42% in TVL to $1.2 billion. Fellow DEX Jupiter was up 20% for a TVL of $1.2 billion, making the platform Solana’s third-largest DEX.
Liquid staking in Solana also saw great returns. Sanctum, a major protocol in this regard, saw the total value locked increase by 31%, primarily because of the LST releases of the centralised exchanges. Tokens like Binance Staked SOL and Bybit Staked SOL brought about $115 m into the liquid staking space in Solana. Other notable liquid staking protocols, Jito and Marinade, had close double-digit gains with an increase of 12.4% and 17.1% in TVL, respectively.
Base Breaches the $2 Billion Mark
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Base is an Ethereum layer-2 blockchain that has been on an upward trajectory in 2024 and has posted an unprecedented year-to-date growth as high as 420% in TVL. The network continued in this impressive form through September, witnessing a surge in TVL of 51%, the first above $2 billion.
Base’s growth came mostly from users staking funds in DEXes, while that was also helped with support from DeFi TVL money markets and yield protocols. Among DEX leaders on Base was the leading Aerodrome, up 95.6% in DeFi TVL at $1.1 billion. As a result, it positioned itself as the biggest dApp on Base.
Other protocols on Base also reported very impressive TVL increases. Money market Aave, which has become one of the biggest protocols in DeFi, expanded its TVL by 43.3% last month. Moonwell, another money market protocol, saw a 47% increase in TVL. Extra Finance is a leveraged yield protocol that is also available on Base and was performing impressively, hitting a 40% increase in September.
Sui and Aptos: Major Movers Among Move-Based Blockchains
Sui and Aptos are two of the biggest contributors to DeFi’s September growth. Among the top 10 blockchains by TVL, Sui had the highest percentage gain. The network grew 83%, while its TVL breached the $1-billion mark for the first time.
Meanwhile, Aptos also focuses on Move; in the previous month, it significantly grew its TVL by about 36.6% and neared $934 million. For both Sui and Aptos, this was also due to increased activity in DEXs and liquid staking protocols. The top protocols on these noticed sharp increases in TVL-proof that user interest and engagement are high.
Conclusion
In 2024, the DeFi TVL sector has been remarkably resilient and has grown well. The inflection point came this September. The total value locked across DeFi protocols jumped 10% in September, as the expansion of DEXs and liquid staking protocols on the major networks continued. The biggest contributors to such growth were Solana, Base, Sui, and Aptos, since their ecosystems saw huge spikes in DeFi TVL.
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