TL;DR Breakdown

• DeFi now has a total value locked of over $17 billion
• Sector has enjoyed rapid growth since the beginning of last year

One of the revelations of the crypto world last year was the decentralized Finance (DeFi) sector that grew from having $1 billion locked in its total value as of February to having over $13 billion locked in it by November. The industry recorded a whooping 13 times growth within the space of one year.

And like every other sector of the crypto industry that has had a great start to the year, the DeFi space is not left out as it has just recorded a massive 23% increase in the first few days of the year. DeFi now has over $17 billion locked in its total value as of the time of this writing. This was made known by DeFi Pulse, a site aggregator that keeps record of the DeFi industry.

The total value locked is generally used to measure the popularity of DeFi projects and the industry as a whole. The industry’s growth has been tied to that of Ethereum that has also recorded a growth of over 60% in this year alone.

Despite the increase in the total value locked, the values of tokens like ETH and BTC locked in it have dropped. Ethereum has dropped by 4.5% while that of Bitcoin has dropped by 4%.

Other Crypto asset also make up total value locked in DeFi

Bitcoin and Ethereum are not the only crypto asset locked in DeFi. Other crypto assets like DAI, USDC and a host of other coins are locked into DeFi. These assets have contributed billions into the value locked in the space.

The rise of the altcoin season could further push this value further up. Plus the rise in price of the two major crypto assets could also have a substantial effect on what the value would stand in future.