Economic uncertainty and a major crypto exchange hack pushed down the total value locked in DeFi protocols to $156 billion in the first quarter of 2025

By coininginvestr.com. Updated Apr 4, 2024 at 1:13 a.m. PDT. Economic uncertainty and a major crypto exchange hack pushed down the total value locked in decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols to $156 billion

The total value locked (TVL) in decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols dropped to $156 billion in the first quarter of 2025, as economic uncertainty and a major crypto exchange hack pushed down the sector, but AI and social apps gained ground, a crypto analytics firm said.

“Broader economic uncertainty and lingering aftershocks from the Bybit exploit were the main contributing factors to the DeFi sector’s 27% quarter-on-quarter fall in TVL,” according to an April 3 report by DappRadar, which noted that Ether (ETH) fell 45% to $1,820 over the same period.

The largest blockchain by TVL, Ethereum, fell 37% to $96 billion, while Sui was the hardest hit of the top 10 blockchains by TVL, dropping 44% to $2 billion.

Solana, Tron and the Arbitrum blockchains also had their TVLs slashed more than 30%.

Moreover, the blockchains that experienced a larger volume of DeFi withdrawals and had a smaller share of stablecoins locked in their protocols faced extra pressure in addition to the falling token prices.

Newly launched Berachain was the only top-10 blockchain by TVL to rise, accumulating $5.17 billion between Feb. 6 and March 31, DappRadar noted.

However, the number of daily unique active wallets (DUAW) interacting with AI protocols and social apps increased 29% and 10%, respectively, in Q1, but non-fungible token and GameFi protocols saw a decrease, DappRadar’s data shows.

The monthly average of DUAWs interacting on the AI and social protocols reached 2.6 million and 2.8 million, while DeFi and GameFi protocols saw triple-digit percentages.

DappRadar said there was “explosive growth” in AI agent protocols, adding that they’re “no longer a concept.”

“They’re here, and they’re shaping new user behaviors,” the firm said.

Related: Avalanche stablecoins up 70% to $2.5B, AVAX demand lacks DeFi deployment

Meanwhile, NFT trading volume decreased 25% to $1.5 billion, with OKX’s NFT marketplace generating the highest sales at $606 million, compared to OpenSea and Blur, which collected $599 million and $565 million, respectively.

Pudgy Penguins NFTs were the most sold collectibles at $177 million, while CryptoPunks NFTs generated $63.6 million from just 477 sales, DappRadar noted.