{"id":"tvl","title":"Total Value Locked (TVL)","content":"The **Total Value Locked** into a [smart contract](https://iq.wiki/wiki/smart-contract) or set of smart contracts that may be deployed or stored at one or more exchanges or markets. This is used as a measurement of investor deposits. It is the dollar value of all the coins or tokens locked into a platform, [protocol](https://iq.wiki/wiki/bridge-protocol), lending program, yield farming program, or insurance [liquidity pool](https://iq.wiki/wiki/liquidity-pool). [\\[7\\]](#cite-id-6z3bjilt6dr)​[\\[8\\]](#cite-id-hncnlmfj9ug)​\n\n## Introduction\n\nMost [DeFi](https://iq.wiki/wiki/defi-dad) applications require capital to be deposited, often in the form of loan collateral or liquidity in a trading pool. This has been used as the de facto metric to show the growth of decentralized finance.\n\n## Growth\n\nOn February 7, 2020 the total value locked in DeFi markets hit 8.5 million) of the value.\n\nIn the beginning of August 2020, the total value locked in DeFi hit $4 billion.\n\nOn September 20, 2020, the total value locked in DeFi broke 1.98B), [MakerDAO](https://iq.wiki/wiki/makerdao) (1.5B).\n\nAs of October 15, 2020, Ether and Bitcoin account for less than half of the total locked value, together coming in at 44.6% of the 3.24 billion, or 7.6% of Ethereum's total market cap. The total amount of BTC locked was $1.81 billion, or 0.85% of Bitcoin's market cap.\n\nOn October 24, 2020, the DeFi total value locked reached $12.5 billion. The dominant DeFi products were Uniswap, MakerDAO, and WBTC.\n\nOn November 12, 2020, at 8:00 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), the total locked value in DeFi reached a high of $13.62 billion.\n\nOn November 20, 2020 at 10:00 AM PST the total value locked reached a new high of $14.19 billion.[\\[9\\]](#cite-id-n1y6040h2n)​[\\[10\\]](#cite-id-ottvkcnpdrh)​\n\n##\n\n## Billion TVL Protocols\n\n#### Uniswap\n\nUniswap is a [decentralized](https://iq.wiki/wiki/decentralized-application) on-chain protocol and it became the first DeFi (Decentralized Finance) [protocol](https://iq.wiki/wiki/boson-protocol) that surpassed 1 billion August 31, 2020. It's dominance as of November 13, 2020 was at 22.02%. The platform became the top DeFi protocol right after launching its own governance token, UNI.\n\n#### MakerDAO\n\nMaker is a [decentralized](https://iq.wiki/wiki/decentralized-application-dapp) credit platform on [Ethereum](https://iq.wiki/wiki/ens) that supports Dai, a [stablecoin](https://iq.wiki/wiki/stablecoin) pegged to U.S. value. In the beginning of July 2020, Dai became the preferred asset to farm the COMP token. The foundational protocol of DeFi on Ethereum rose to $1 billion total locked value by the end of July.\n\n#### WBTC\n\nWrapped is an ERC20 token that is backed 1:1 with Bitcoin that can be traded on various crypto exchanges. WBTC hit 4 million in total locked value to $36 million by the third quarter.\n\n#### Compound\n\nCompound is an algorithmic money market protocol on [Ethereum](https://iq.wiki/wiki/ens) that lets users borrow assets or earn interest. The protocol reached $1 billion on October 23, 2020. Compound released their governance token, COMP, in June 2020.\n\n#### Aave\n\nAave is a non-custodial lending and borrowing protocol and became the second DeFi protocol to hit 1 billion worth of assets into the protocol for lending and borrowing purposes. [Aave](https://iq.wiki/wiki/aave) first hit $1 billion on August 15, 2020, and has been fluctuating below and above the billion mark.[\\[11\\]](#cite-id-watmtb7a6t)​\n\n#### Harvest Finance\n\nHarvest Finance is a platform that lets users farm the latest projects producing yield for users. The decentralized platform hit $1 billion October 21, 2020 due to \"vault migration,\" which means users were moving funds from existing pools to newly created ones in order to maximize returns on their assets.\n\n#### Curve Finance\n\nCurve Finance was launched in in January of 2020 and is a decentralized exchange that allows users to trade between stablecoins. Curve became the third DeFi protocol to hit $1 billion in total value locked on August 17, 2020. Before the milestone, launched it's governance platform and native CRV token early, this led to an inflow of capital deposits.\n\n#### Balancer\n\nBalancer is an automated market-creation system that allows users to add liquidity to their own customizable pools. Instead of paying a portfolio manager to balance your account, you collect fees from traders who balance your account by following arbitrage opportunities. Launched in March of 2020, they reached a staggering $1 billion by August 2020 due to their success in the crypto-market.\n\n#### SushiSwap\n\nAt the end of August 2020, [SushiSwap](https://iq.wiki/wiki/sushiswap) forked a protocol of Uniswap with a governance token and quickly became the most popular DeFi project on Ethereum. The protocol locked in over 1 to $7.70 at the same time.","summary":"Total Value Locked (TVL) is the dollar value of all coins or tokens locked into a decentralized finance (DeFi) platform, indicating its growth and investor depo...","images":[{"id":"QmScvpaYXHKV2DwrZd7nRveM3Am5v8k1Pxhvvkyt2ymNzX","type":"image/jpeg, image/png"}],"categories":[{"id":"glossary","title":"glossary"}],"tags":[],"media":[{"id":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcJXWvou2Aw","size":"0","name":"GcJXWvou2Aw","type":null,"source":"YOUTUBE"},{"id":"QmNy1pFrwvVb1XsDD7ZDPLVyHwvMgvp1fAB9xGKsnAruzA","size":"0.091","name":"0 lie9Y_PAhdjgW1xj.jpg","type":null,"source":"IPFS_IMG"},{"id":"QmSXmwLZSuNUXFbRGcZJhYK8SwqcMjim8WPTHG74VmbdpD","size":"0.080","name":"1 QK0vb54Y1NQuX-6SwwbwaA.png","type":null,"source":"IPFS_IMG"},{"id":"QmTPJE5VpYS7i9MLaxb3c8KivTBoZtgevHJxaaoeWV3CAq","size":"0.021","name":"main-qimg-007638bc88786dd318bc92328190da37-lq.jpg","type":null,"source":"IPFS_IMG"},{"id":"Qma2jdNDnDcaQAcSM9pKeP9UJSaVCKBospNiCDtWuyHBZ6","size":"0.038","name":"What-is-total-value-locked.webp","type":null,"source":"IPFS_IMG"},{"id":"QmYi1mvSFSv9vh95m4c6YdzAicKE17Kw332Q7PMqYwW8Mz","size":"0.031","name":"What-is-TVL.webp","type":null,"source":"IPFS_IMG"}],"metadata":[{"id":"references","value":"[{\"id\":\"0jeojwmfg5cn\",\"url\":\"https://tornado.cash/\",\"description\":\"wEBSITE\",\"timestamp\":1660857376137},{\"id\":\"1fh1ebztr3q\",\"url\":\"https://twitter.com/TornadoCash\",\"description\":\"tWITTER\",\"timestamp\":1660857389147},{\"id\":\"1wfoji0pnhc\",\"url\":\"https://tornado.cash/\",\"description\":\"Tornado Cash\",\"timestamp\":1660857417579},{\"id\":\"uxxtn8nnk1b\",\"url\":\"https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/tornado-cash\",\"description\":\"Coingecko\",\"timestamp\":1660857449161},{\"id\":\"a00425uijoo\",\"url\":\"https://dappradar.com/ethereum/other/tornado-cash\",\"description\":\"Medium\",\"timestamp\":1660857468755},{\"id\":\"09zokz3b27ev\",\"url\":\"https://tornado-cash.medium.com/tornado-cash-version-2-has-been-released-8c739d3706df\",\"description\":\"Medium\",\"timestamp\":1660857595181},{\"id\":\"6z3bjilt6dr\",\"url\":\"https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/total-value-locked-tvl\",\"description\":\"CoinmarketCap\",\"timestamp\":1660858477542},{\"id\":\"hncnlmfj9ug\",\"url\":\"https://messari.io/article/how-to-interpret-total-value-locked-tvl-in-defi\",\"description\":\"TVL Meaning\",\"timestamp\":1660858570653},{\"id\":\"n1y6040h2n\",\"url\":\"https://cointelegraph.com/news/total-value-locked-in-defi-hits-new-ath-of-4b\",\"description\":\"Cointelegraph\",\"timestamp\":1660858693985},{\"id\":\"ottvkcnpdrh\",\"url\":\"https://cryptobriefing.com/defi-total-value-locked-12-5b-high/\",\"description\":\"TVL\",\"timestamp\":1660858823956},{\"id\":\"watmtb7a6t\",\"url\":\"https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/75003/aave-becomes-second-defi-protocol-to-hit-1-billion-in-total-value-locked\",\"description\":\"aave\",\"timestamp\":1660858867141},{\"id\":\"2w0h6m3en3l\",\"url\":\"https://thecontrol.co/defi-usage-numbers-7e5e2cd5ab2e\",\"description\":\"Total Value Locked\",\"timestamp\":1660858927414}]"},{"id":"website","value":"https://defipulse.com/"},{"id":"previous_cid","value":"\"https://ipfs.everipedia.org/ipfs/QmSUCdhTJ4dEG3tpvLRY7DTBzq9Q97WaFvyLJcLiaoBvxZ\""},{"id":"commit-message","value":"\"Removed Total Value Locked definition and DeFi intro/growth section\""},{"id":"previous_cid","value":"QmSUCdhTJ4dEG3tpvLRY7DTBzq9Q97WaFvyLJcLiaoBvxZ"}],"events":[],"user":{"id":"0x8af7a19a26d8fbc48defb35aefb15ec8c407f889"},"author":{"id":"0x2fE6aCD015384E1ee5138eF79fe1a434dA8FA12e"},"operator":{"id":"0x1E23b34d3106F0C1c74D17f2Cd0F65cdb039b138"},"language":"en","version":1,"linkedWikis":{"blockchains":[],"founders":[],"speakers":[]},"recentActivity":"{\"items\":[{\"id\":\"cc4a41df-650c-4828-9739-b0791b75d658\",\"title\":\"Total Value Locked (TVL)\",\"description\":\"Total Value Locked (TVL) is the dollar value of all coins or tokens locked into a decentralized finance (DeFi) platform, indicating its growth and investor depo...\",\"timestamp\":\"2026-06-04T00:59:43.293Z\",\"category\":\"glossary\",\"status\":{\"icon\":\"RiGlobalLine\",\"label\":\"Wiki Updated\",\"iconClassName\":\"text-green-500\"},\"user\":{\"name\":\"0x2fE6aCD015384E1ee5138eF79fe1a434dA8FA12e\",\"address\":\"0x1E23b34d3106F0C1c74D17f2Cd0F65cdb039b138\"},\"button\":{\"label\":\"View Summary\",\"icon\":\"RiFileTextLine\"},\"summarySections\":[{\"title\":\"Content - Lead / Opening definition\",\"subtitle\":\"Opening definition text was changed/retained with citation markers present in the new content.\",\"variant\":\"modified\",\"changeCount\":1,\"changes\":[\"Updated opening definition text for 'Total Value Locked' and preserved citation markers in the added content [[7]](#cite-id-6z3bjilt6dr) [[8]](#cite-id-hncnlmfj9ug)\"]},{\"title\":\"Content - Growth\",\"subtitle\":\"Multiple sentences and numeric TVL figures were altered or became truncated within the Growth section.\",\"variant\":\"modified\",\"changeCount\":3,\"changes\":[\"Replaced 'On February 7, 2020 the total value locked in DeFi markets hit $1 billion. Bitcoin accounted for 1.7% ($8.5 million) of the value.' with a truncated line 'On February 7, 2020 the total value locked in DeFi markets hit 8.5 million) of the value.'\",\"Modified the September 20, 2020 sentence listing top protocols (originally containing 'Uniswap ($1.98B), MakerDAO ($1.95B), and Aave ($1.5B)'); the updated text is truncated/missing some dollar signs and numbers (e.g., '1.98B), [MakerDAO] (1.5B)')\",\"Preserved later TVL high values including the November 20, 2020 new high of $14.19 billion in the added content [[9]](#cite-id-n1y6040h2n) [[10]](#cite-id-ottvkcnpdrh)\"]},{\"title\":\"Content - Billion TVL Protocols: Uniswap\",\"subtitle\":\"Uniswap subsection text was altered; numeric formatting changed (dollar signs removed in places) and wording slightly rephrased.\",\"variant\":\"modified\",\"changeCount\":1,\"changes\":[\"Changed phrasing and numeric formatting (example: 'surpassed $2 billion' / 'first hit $1 billion' in removed content appears in added content without dollar signs as 'surpassed 1 billion' and 'first hit 1 billion')\"]},{\"title\":\"Content - Billion TVL Protocols: MakerDAO\",\"subtitle\":\"MakerDAO subsection retained but shows small wording/format changes consistent with numeric formatting differences elsewhere.\",\"variant\":\"modified\",\"changeCount\":1,\"changes\":[\"MakerDAO paragraph wording preserved but numeric formatting in surrounding protocol comparisons was altered (see Growth and Uniswap entries)\"]},{\"title\":\"Content - Billion TVL Protocols: WBTC\",\"subtitle\":\"WBTC paragraph was changed: a sentence about a $1 billion milestone was removed and the growth sentence was rephrased/truncated.\",\"variant\":\"modified\",\"changeCount\":1,\"changes\":[\"Removed the sentence 'WBTC hit $1 billion in total locked value on October 5, 2020.' and replaced the growth sentence 'At the beginning of 2020, WBTC grew from $4 million in total locked value to $36 million by the third quarter.' with a truncated variant 'WBTC hit 4 million in total locked value to $36 million by the third quarter.'\"]},{\"title\":\"Content - Billion TVL Protocols: Compound\",\"subtitle\":\"Compound subsection largely preserved; minor formatting/wording differences consistent with other protocol entries.\",\"variant\":\"modified\",\"changeCount\":1,\"changes\":[\"Compound paragraph remains but exhibits the same numeric/formatting adjustments observed elsewhere (no new citations in the added content for this subsection)\"]},{\"title\":\"Content - Billion TVL Protocols: Aave\",\"subtitle\":\"Aave subsection wording and numeric formatting changed; added content includes a citation.\",\"variant\":\"modified\",\"changeCount\":1,\"changes\":[\"Reworded sentences about Aave hitting the billion-dollar mark and removed some dollar signs (e.g., 'hit $1 billion' -> 'hit 1 billion'); the added Aave text includes citation [[11]](#cite-id-watmtb7a6t)\"]},{\"title\":\"Content - Billion TVL Protocols: Harvest Finance / Curve Finance / Balancer\",\"subtitle\":\"These protocol subsections were retained but show similar minor wording and formatting changes.\",\"variant\":\"modified\",\"changeCount\":1,\"changes\":[\"Harvest Finance, Curve Finance, and Balancer paragraphs remain in the content but reflect the same small wording/formatting inconsistencies (no new citations present in the added content for these subsections)\"]},{\"title\":\"Content - Billion TVL Protocols: SushiSwap\",\"subtitle\":\"SushiSwap subsection was truncated and numeric figures altered.\",\"variant\":\"modified\",\"changeCount\":1,\"changes\":[\"Original sentence 'locked in over $1 billion within three days ... SUSHI tokens jumped from $1 to $7.70' was replaced by a truncated fragment in the added content 'locked in over 1 to $7.70 at the same time.'\"]},{\"title\":\"Content - Criticism\",\"subtitle\":\"The entire 'Criticism' section was removed from the content.\",\"variant\":\"removed\",\"changeCount\":1,\"changes\":[\"Removed the Criticism section that discussed limitations of TVL as a metric and whale concentration (section and its paragraphs no longer appear in the added content)\"]},{\"title\":\"Linked Wikis\",\"subtitle\":\"The linkedWikis field value was changed from a structured object to null.\",\"variant\":\"modified\",\"changeCount\":1,\"changes\":[\"Changed linkedWikis from {\\\"blockchains\\\": [], \\\"founders\\\": [], \\\"speakers\\\": []} to null\"]},{\"title\":\"Metadata\",\"subtitle\":\"New metadata entries were added to the wiki record.\",\"variant\":\"added\",\"changeCount\":2,\"changes\":[\"Added metadata entry 'blocks-changed' with value 'tags, summary, events'\",\"Added metadata entry 'wiki-score' with value '82'\"]}]}]}"}