New data from IntoTheBlock shows the extent to which decentralized finance (DeFi) has been hit by the crypto bear market.
The blockchain analytics firm says in a new report the total value locked (TVL) in DeFi is now at its lowest since February 2021 after approximately $170 billion in deposits left the sector.
TVL refers to the amount of capital deposited within a protocol’s smart contracts and is often used to gauge the health of a crypto ecosystem.
The 2.5-year low comes amid decreased yields and increased incidents of exploits which has prompted investors to pull back. The amount of capital invested in DeFi protocols has also continued to drop despite the market trending upwards in the last few months, IntoTheBlock says.
“Decreasing token prices led many DeFi protocols into a negative feedback loop where the yield offered to depositors (subsidized by tokens) decayed, leading to decreasing TVL, resulting in less perceived value for the protocol and so forth.”
IntoTheBlock says that Unibot (UNIBOT), a new Telegram-based trading bot designed for decentralized exchange Uniswap (UNI), is perhaps one of the few bright spots in DeFi right now outside of the “blue chips.”
The firm says newer protocols like Unibot are attempting to simplify the DeFi experience by sacrificing some of the original ethos of holding your own keys in favor of convenience.
“Overall, there is plenty of experimentation going on in DeFi despite its decreasing TVL numbers. While established protocols are opting through low borrow costs and sustainable yields, newer protocols are attempting to simplify the DeFi experience. Though there is no clear answer as to which approach will end up being more successful, there are promising signs for both to reignite the DeFi space.”
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