DeFi Pulse Docs
DashboardDiscord
  • What Is DeFi Pulse?
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • OUR METRICS
    • Total Value Locked (TVL)
    • Growth Internals
  • METHODOLOGY & REFERENCE
    • Total Value Locked (TVL)
    • Growth Internals
  • Adding Your Project
Powered by GitBook
On this page

Was this helpful?

  1. OUR METRICS

Total Value Locked (TVL)

PreviousFrequently Asked QuestionsNextGrowth Internals

Last updated 2 years ago

Was this helpful?

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.