The market data indicates that the total values locked (TVL) in decentralized lending protocols have fought back vigorously since the middle of 2022. Now, they are over $30 billion and on the rise too.

Specifically, lending TVL now sits at over $31 billion as of February 2024. This represents a 36% increase since January 2023, when TVL stood at $10.5 billion. Experts cite the broader crypto market rebound and institutional interest as driving this exponential growth.

The recent introduction of innovative offerings by new lending protocols has also contributed to the surging of DeFi lending protocols.

Moreover, institutional investors have been crucial to revitalizing DeFi lending through capital inflows and technological integration. Their growing appetite for decentralized offerings, alongside advancements in blockchain ecosystems like Solana, has expanded adoption.

Aave dominates the lending category with a Total Value Locked (TVL) of $9.9 billion, with $8.4 billion locked on the Ethereum network and the remaining distributed across other chains. Other notable protocols in this space include JustLend, holding $6.8 billion in TVL, Spark with $3.7 billion, Compound with $2.8 billion, and Morpho nearing the $1 billion mark.

Industry analysts view the resilient rebound in decentralized lending as affirming the nature of the crypto industry. It signals restoring faith in DeFi financial instruments on both a retail and institutional level. 

Also read: ETH Staking Protocol Swell Sees 150% Surge In TVL This Month

StarkDeFi announces the closing 10 days of their innovative ReGenesis campaign—A Blend of Traditional Leaderboard and Gamification

Ashfield, Australia, March 01, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — StarkDeFi, a leading provider of DeFi solutions built on StarkNet, is entering the final stretch of their standout ReGenesis campaign. The campaign deviates from the current market trend, featuring a gamified twist to the traditional leaderboard approach. The project hints at entering a new phase, stating “After this, ReGenesis goes into intermission – a mission of its own,” signifying exciting developments are on the horizon.

As a project poised to launch one of StarkNet’s initial tokens, users have been staying active, accumulating Regenesis Cores, exchangeable for $SDC, StarkDeFi’s native token.

“StarkDeFi is driven by the ambition to reshape existing StarkNet protocols through its unique UI. We took it upon ourselves to design an exceptional user experience that extends beyond our application and revolutionizes our leaderboard campaign,” said the COO of StarkDeFi. “By incorporating interactive gaming elements, we believe we’ve established a user-focused campaign that stands unparalleled among other StarkNet builders.”

StarkDeFi strives to be the ultimate destination for all things DeFi on Starknet. Although it’s still in its infancy, having launched on mainnet in December 2023, the project is gaining significant momentum. Notably, Brian D Evans, a serial entrepreneur and marketing maestro, recently joined as an advisor. Moreover, the project enjoys visual contributions from an undisclosed artist who also played a significant role in designing projects for the Al Wasl Dome in Dubai and Vivid Festival in Sydney, Australia.

“StarkDeFi is building an entire suite of DeFi solutions. Whilst we currently offer an AMM (automated market maker) and soon to launch Liquidity Locker, we have an array of products, such as StarkPad, the only native launchpad on Starknet, Limit Orders and Synergy Pools (a zero loss, prize savings protocol). We are also set to launch a few more products, which can be integrated into our current offerings to increase user experience, however, we have to leave something to the imagination” commented their COO.

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The team comprises global talent with a collective experience of over 20 years. Led by four co-founders, each boasting unique expertise in web3, they are proud of their diverse team. Moreover, StarkDeFi collaborates with a plethora of esteemed partners such as Chainlink Build, Seedify, Trireme Trading, Gate.io Labs, among others.

To learn more about StarkDeFi, please visit here

About StarkDeFi

StarkDeFi is a permissionless and trustless hub of comprehensive Defi solutions built to leverage ZK-Rollup on StarkNet’s L2 over Ethereum.

CONTACT: Patrick Hemming patrickjhemming(at)icloud.com

Bitcoin falls 0.43% amid DeFi sector contagion: Market turbulence continues

Bitcoin plummeted more than 3% from its 24-hour peak on Feb. 29 after investors in Grayscale’s spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) withdrew US$598.9 million, the fund’s second-largest net outflow on record.

Bitcoin reached a 24-hour high of US$63,585 early on February 29 and has since fallen roughly 3.3% to a little under US$61,500, according to Cointelegraph Markets Pro. It comes as the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), the asset managers’ freshly converted ETF, suffered daily net outflows of US$600 million on February 29, according to preliminary Farside Investor statistics.

It trails behind the ETF’s record US$640.5 million net outflow day on January 22. “That’s a lot,” Bloomberg senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas remarked in a report on the outflows on February 29.The near-record outflows came just days after GBTC reported a record-low daily net outflow of US$22.4 million on Feb. 26. On Wednesday, Feb. 28, the 10 US spot Bitcoin ETFs had a combined record-high net inflow of US$673.4 million, as Bitcoin hit a two-year high of US$64,000.

The new GBTC outflows may reduce the day’s inflows. Fidelity’s Bitcoin ETF, FBTC, experienced a notable surge in capital inflows, with a massive US$243 million inflow on a single day, propelling its total net flows to an impressive US$4.2 billion. Despite this, the full inflow data for the other nine ETFs is not yet available. Meanwhile, JPMorgan analysts warn that the price of Bitcoin may decrease as the “halving euphoria” fades.

Bitcoin’s anticipated halving event in April, which many expect to boost its price, may have the opposite effect, bringing it closer to US$42,000, according to analysts in a Feb. 29 letter seen by Bloomberg.

The Bitcoin halving event reduces the Bitcoin block reward from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC and has historically served as a trigger for Bitcoin price increases, as miner production costs often rise in the aftermath.

Production expenses, or the cost of mining one Bitcoin, are viewed as the lowest point at which Bitcoin’s price can potentially fall, and should “mechanically double” to US$53,000 following the halving, according to experts.

However, mining difficulty might be 20% lower than previously projected, lowering production costs and Bitcoin’s price, perhaps causing the cryptocurrency to fall below US$42,000 during the April halving, according to the experts.

Analysts calculated that the 20% decrease in mining difficulty could occur if certain miners, who operate less efficient computers and lack funds for upgrades, decide to shut down their mining rigs due to rising operating costs. As a result, Bitcoin’s hash rate and mining difficulty would decrease by approximately 20%, aligning with the estimates provided by Galaxy Digital last month. However, the researchers acknowledged that such a decline in mining difficulty is unlikely, as even inefficient rigs may remain profitable if Bitcoin’s price remains high, especially considering the demand from Bitcoin ETFs.