The forecasted future of finance seems to be finding rough waters. The capital hold in decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols has reduced to its lowest level since February 2021, As per DefiLlama inputs. Specifically, the total value locked, or TVL, has decreased to $37.5 billion, dipping below the earlier bottom mark of $38 billion set last December.
DeFi enthusiasts champion the potentially revolutionary financial model, which could move conventional methodologies of trading and transferring assets onto blockchains. This concept momentum drove TVL to an impressive 2021 late peak of $177 billion. However, a subsequent landslide ensued as crypto prices plummeted, and scandals exhorted people away from this space. The recent U.S. government’s crypto regulations have made traditional financiers apprehensive about DeFi, fearing potential legal complications.
Over the past month alone, several protocols have lost more than half of their locked value. Notably, TVL of Optimism-based decentralized exchange Velodrome and Balancer, a large liquidity protocol, have staggered by 58% and 35% to $641 million, respectively.
The crypto sphere endured a difficult phase in the past few days with bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum’s ether (ETH) – the backbone of the DeFi market – witnessing double-digit percentage declines. History has shown that in times of large crypto assets plummet, traders retract liquidity from speculative assets like those within DeFi to lessen risk.
However, DeFi seemingly has a different story this year, being harder hit than ETH. Despite ETH’s approximately 40% upward surge since December, DeFi’s TVL has contracted. It implies that DeFi’s challenges are inherent, not correlated with its primary token.
The recent sensitivity of DeFi to alterations in yields on U.S. Treasuries further complicates matters, as suggested by Doo, co-founder of StableLab and Asia Lead at MakerDAO. He explained how the increases in US Treasury yields and reduced DeFi yields, known for higher risk, have resulted in fewer rewards.
Further affecting the scenario is a broader liquidity issue. A check into the overall volumes of major decentralized exchanges reinforces this observation. Trading platforms, such as Curve and Uniswap, are experiencing decreased trading volumes leading to lower liquidity and interest in the market, thus pushing the yields downward.
Source: Coindesk
