Aave, the decentralized lending protocol, has reached a major milestone – now accounting for 20% of the total value locked (TVL) across the entire decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem.
According to DeFiLlama, Aave’s TVL has soared past $24 billion, making it the largest DeFi protocol by TVL – outpacing longtime leaders like Lido and MakerDAO.
The rally in AAVE, the protocol’s native governance token, has followed suit. AAVE is currently trading at $262, up 90% over the past month, with a market cap approaching $4 billion, per CoinGecko.
The broader DeFi market has been lifted by a resurgence in Ethereum (ETH), which has gained nearly 60% month-over-month.
Analytics platform Sea Launch reports that Aave’s TVL dominance has nearly doubled since January 2024 – from 11% to 20% over the past 16 months. In the same period, DeFi’s total TVL rose from $56 billion to $115 billion, while Aave’s share grew 3.6x, from $6.6 billion to $23.8 billion.
This surge highlights Aave’s central role in the ongoing DeFi recovery after a sluggish start to the year. The protocol continues to expand across multiple ecosystems, announcing recently that its V3 iteration has officially launched on the Aptos blockchain, bringing its total multi-chain deployments to over 10 networks.
MILESTONE | @aave Hits $40 Billion in On-Chain Value Locked – A New High in #DeFi Lending
In ETH terms, Aave’s TVL jumped from around 6 million ETH at the beginning of the year to nearly 10 million $ETH in May 2025https://t.co/G9mQVq3Sc7 @AaveLabsNews @DefiLlama @Definews_Info pic.twitter.com/h704aCefN1
— BitKE (@BitcoinKE) May 13, 2025
But Aave’s rise also reflects broader DeFi momentum.
According to BitKE, the DeFi sector is entering a renewed growth phase in 2025. Institutional interest is accelerating, and activity on Ethereum Layer 2s like Optimism and Arbitrum has surged. BitKE also notes that emerging markets, particularly in Africa, are helping shape the next wave of DeFi adoption – driven by mobile-first use cases, local developer engagement, and increasing wallet activity in countries like Nigeria and Kenya.
REPORT | 12.7% of All @MetaMask Users Come from #Nigeria🇳🇬, Reveals ‘State of Wallet 2025’ Report @Dune‘s Report dissects growth, ecosystems, and trends reshaping wallets.https://t.co/rb6v5OCDG2 pic.twitter.com/gOTskSVtFi
— BitKE (@BitcoinKE) May 19, 2025
In early 2025, DeFi experienced a sharp pullback. TVL peaked at $179 billion in December 2024 but dropped nearly 40% to $109 billion by April, following a U.S post-election cooldown.
Now, the sector is rebounding fast. Over the past 30 days, DeFi TVL has grown 38%, reaching $151 billion as of May 20 – with Aave leading the recovery.
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