# Total Value Locked (TVL)
**Total Value Locked (TVL)** is the total value of all assets deposited in a decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol that are generating economic activity. Economic activity may include lending, borrowing, economic provision, asset management, or insurance.
TVL is an important, quantitative confidence indicator for DeFi protocols: the more value investors are willing to lock up in a protocol, the greater their confidence in the protocol.
The basic criteria for assets to be counted towards a protocol’s TVL are:
* the asset must not be minted by the protocol itself
* the asset must be generating economic activity
* the asset must be liquid
As a result, TVL excludes assets that are minted by the protocol itself, assets not generating economic activity (such as tokens locked in liquidity mining or governance contracts), and illiquid assets.
DeFi Pulse tracks TVL over time for individual protocols and globally across the entire DeFi space, offering insights into both protocol-specific and industry-wide trends.
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