DeFi Value Plummets as Ethereum Continues to Struggle
Since November 2024, the value locked in decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols has experienced a sharp decline, erasing all the gains made after Donald Trump's election.
From a peak of $138 billion in mid-December, it has fallen to $92.6 billion by March 10, according to analyst Miles Deutscher.
Ethereum, in particular, has been hit hard. Despite Bitcoin’s rise past $109,000, Ethereum has struggled, failing to surpass its all-time high of $4,787 from 2021.
Its total value locked (TVL) dropped by $30.6 billion, signaling a shift in market sentiment. Solana, too, has faced criticism as the enthusiasm surrounding its memecoins fades.
READ MORE: Bitcoin and Ethereum Trading Now Available to Clients of Major Spanish Bank
Moreover, Ethereum saw significant movement in its assets in early March, with nearly 800,000 ETH worth about $1.8 billion leaving exchanges. This suggests that despite a decline in Ether’s price, many holders are still viewing the current levels as an opportunity to accumulate more.
Ethereum’s network is also undergoing an upgrade, with the Pectra update aiming to reduce transaction costs and enhance liquidity. However, the upgrade has faced some setbacks, including technical issues on the testnet, though fixes have been applied.
Alexander Stefanov
Reporter at CoinsPress
Alex is Editor-in-Chief of Coinspress and co-founder of Millennial Media Group, with nearly a decade of experience covering financial markets - crypto first, then everything else. It started in 2016 with Bitcoin. Like most people at the time, he didn't fully understand it - so he kept digging. Blockchain, tokenomics, the projects, the cycles. That curiosity never stopped, and eventually pulled him into traditional markets too: equities, commodities, macro. Not because he left crypto behind, but because you can't properly understand one without the other. What drives him is straightforward: he wants to know why something is happening, not just that it's happening. Most market coverage stops at the headline - price up, price down, here's a chart. Alex finds that kind of reporting actively unhelpful. If you walk away from an article without understanding the mechanism behind the move, what did you actually learn? He holds a degree in Tourism from New Bulgarian University - not the most obvious path into financial markets, but markets have a way of pulling in people who are simply too curious to stay out. He has authored over 200 in-depth analyses and more than 10,000 articles across crypto and traditional finance. He still thinks every day in markets teaches him something new. That's probably why he hasn't stopped.
