As the trend in the cryptocurrency market shifts, decentralized finance (DeFi) is ushering in a new wave of innovation. Recent data shows that the total value locked (TVL) in multi-chain DeFi has surpassed $150 billion, reaching a three-year high. Ethereum still holds nearly 60% dominance, while DeFi protocols on public chains such as Solana, Avalanche, and Sui are also showing significant growth.
At the protocol level, yield strategy products are rapidly iterating. Some protocols have achieved substantial TVL growth in recent months, with BUIDL increasing by over 200%, reaching approximately $1.8 billion. Protocols like Euler, Sonic, and Level Finance have also recorded double-digit monthly growth. Meanwhile, decentralized exchanges (DEX) continue to innovate, with Uniswap's v4 upgrade introducing a hook mechanism and a lower Gas cost architecture, while PancakeSwap recorded a monthly trading volume of $325 billion in June, setting a historical high. Cross-chain usage is also on the rise, with Arbitrum, Optimism, and BNB Chain steadily attracting institutions and users.
In terms of technological innovation, AI is becoming the core driving force for the next stage of DeFi. Industry research indicates that so-called DeFAI agents are now able to autonomously participate in liquidity management, trade execution, and governance voting, reducing the need for human intervention. These agents are still in the early stages but are expected to develop into fully autonomous on-chain economic participants. At the same time, academia is promoting research on AMM liquidity optimization, enhancing capital efficiency through deep reinforcement learning. Another line of research proposes "yield tokenization," which splits interest rates into principal and yield components, enabling interest rate risk hedging and fixed income generation.
However, the rapid expansion is accompanied by significant risks. On-chain security agencies warn that DeFi platforms still lack sufficient underlying security infrastructure as they advance, with some protocols neglecting audits and protections in pursuit of speed, leading to frequent hacker attacks and the accumulation of systemic risks.
On the institutional side, capital is accelerating its influx. Several leading venture capital firms have recently concentrated their funds on stablecoins, DeFi protocols, and the AI sector, believing that these areas may achieve product-market fit first. Meanwhile, senior executives from traditional finance are also entering the space; for example, the former CEO of Deutsche Bank has joined a DeFi company as a strategic advisor, which is interpreted as a signal of the accelerating integration between traditional finance and DeFi.
Overall, DeFi is entering a new stage characterized by "technological breakthroughs, institutional support, and a focus on risk management." On one hand, innovations such as AI agents, cross-chain strategies, and yield tokenization are opening up new growth spaces; on the other hand, security risks and regulatory uncertainties remain core challenges that the industry cannot avoid. Whether DeFi can truly transition from an "experimental field" to "mature financial infrastructure" will largely determine its long-term position in the cryptocurrency world and the traditional financial system.
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