41+ Brand New DeFi Statistics (2024)
This article is a list of 24+ brand-new decentralized finance (DeFi) statistics for 2024.
Interest in DeFi has exploded over the last 3 years.
But just how big is the DeFi space? And which cryptocurrencies and exchanges are growing the fastest?
We’ll answer all of these questions (and more) in this up-to-date list of DeFi stats.
Click for a specific section:
Contents
- DeFi Growth Stats
- DeFi Market Statistics
- Bitcoin (BTC) Stats
- Ethereum (ETH) Stats
- Other Major DeFi Currency Stats
- Cryptocurrency Exchange Statistics
Top 5 DeFi Statistics (Editor's Picks)
- There is around $52 billion of value locked in DeFi.
- Global blockchain spending is expected to hit $19 billion by 2024.
- The worldwide blockchain market is forecast to grow to over $65 billion by 2026.
- The top three most valuable cryptocurrencies are each variations of Bitcoin.
- Bitcoin has a market cap of around $800 billion.
DeFi Growth Stats
$55.95 billion in value is locked in DeFi platforms (DeFiLlama)
DeFi total value locked (TVL) has fluctuated over the last few years. At the height of crypto and web3 interest in November of 2021, TVL reached over $100 million. Today, there's $55.95 billion locked in DeFi.
The total value locked in decentralized finance has increased by over 5x since July 2020 (DeFi Pulse)
Investment in cryptocurrency is down from its late 2021 peak. But it is still much higher than only a few years ago.
As of July 2020, an estimated $9.1 billion of value was locked in decentralized finance.
By December 2020, this figure had risen sharply to $25.2 billion. As of January 2024, $55.95 billion of value is locked in decentralized finance.
Global blockchain spending has increased 7x over a four-year period (Statista)
Global blockchain spending surpassed $1 billion in 2018 - up from only $0.95 billion in 2017.
The following year (2019), global blockchain spending nearly doubled from $1.5 billion to $2.7 billion.
Global blockchain spending is projected to almost triple to $19 billion in 2024.
The blockchain technology market is expected to grow to nearly $70 billion by 2026 (MarketsandMarkets)
The blockchain technology market is growing at a rapid rate.
Between 2018 and 2020, the blockchain market almost tripled from $1.2 billion to $3 billion.
This figure has nearly doubled year-over-year. And is expected to reach $67.4 billion in 2026.
Here is a full breakdown of the worldwide blockchain technology market value each year since 2018:
| Year | Blockchain market value |
| 2018 | $1.2 billion |
| 2019 | $2.2 billion |
| 2020 | $3 billion |
| 2021 (estimated) | $7 billion |
| 2022 (estimated) | $12.7 billion |
| 2023 (estimated) | $23.3 billion |
| 2025 (estimated) | $39.7 billion |
| 2026 (estimated) | $67.4 billion |
As of January 2024, there are 8,992 different cryptocurrencies available for trade (investing.com)
This number represents a marked increase from September 2021’s total of only 5,840 total cryptocurrencies.
For context, around 3,000 cryptos existed in November 2019.
In fact, the number of cryptocurrencies only surpassed the 1,000 mark in 2017. And less than a decade ago, in 2013, there were just 66 cryptocurrencies.
Worldwide, there are more than 85 million Blockchain wallet users (Blockchain)
This year has seen accelerated growth in Blockchain wallet users around the globe.
At the start of January 2020, there were approximately 45 million Blockchain wallet users worldwide. This figure increased by around 40 million in 3 years.
Here’s a full breakdown of major milestones for Blockchain wallet users worldwide:
| Milestone (Blockchain wallet users) | Achieved (Month, Year) |
| 1 million | January 2014 |
| 5 million | December 2015 |
| 10 million | December 2016 |
| 20 million | December 2017 |
| 30 million | November 2018 |
| 40 million | June 2019 |
| 50 million | June 2020 |
| 60 million | November 2020 |
| 70 million | March 2021 |
| 80 million | December 2021 |
Cryptocurrency theft grew by over 9x in one year (DeFiYield)
In 2018, cryptocurrency theft totaled $950 million.
This figure fell to $513 million in 2020 despite a huge increase in DeFi investment across the globe.
Overall, the average value of stolen cryptocurrency was approximately 160% higher in 2019 than it was in 2020.
The value of cryptocurrency lost to security threats increased by more than 9x between 2020 and 2021.
In fact, one incident in August 2021 accounted for a $610 million loss.
DeFi Market Statistics
Bitcoin is the world’s most valuable cryptocurrency (CoinMarketCap)
Despite thousands of cryptocurrencies launching over the last few years, Bitcoin remains the world's most valuable.
As of January 2024, a single Bitcoin (BTC) is worth $45,505.81. And has a market cap of $892 billion.
Second on the most valuable cryptocurrencies list is Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC), worth $45,456.18.
The most popular cryptocurrency by 24-hour trade value is worth over $30 billion (CoinMarketCap)
According to data from January 2, 2024, Tether (USDT) has a 24-hour trade value of $51.69 billion. This is almost 50% more than any other cryptocurrency.
The second-most valuable cryptocurrency by 24-hour trade volume is Bitcoin at approximately $32.73 billion. Followed by Ethereum at almost $11 billion.
In total, 9 cryptocurrencies posted a 24-hour trade volume of over $1 billion.
The overall cryptocurrency market cap peaked at approximately $2.9 quadrillion (CoinMarketCap)
The overall cryptocurrency market cap has experienced huge growth over the last five years.
In January 2017, the overall estimated cryptocurrency market cap sat at under $20 trillion.
By January 2018, this figure peaked at over $550 trillion after a surge. It took until January 2021 to surpass this figure.
Since then, the growth has been seismic, surpassing a $1 quadrillion market cap in February and peaking at $2.91 quadrillion in November 2021.
Bitcoin’s market share is over 2x Ethereum’s (CoinMarketCap)
Bitcoin’s market share has risen year-over-year between 2018 and 2020. And in 2020, Bitcoin had a 66% market share based on market cap.
As of January 2024, Bitcoin’s market cap stands at around $890 billion - more than 3x that of Ethereum ($288 billion).
Here is a breakdown of the top 20 coins by market cap (to the nearest billion):
| Rank | Coin | Market Cap (January 2024) |
| #1 | Bitcoin | $890 billion |
| #2 | Ethereum | $288 billion |
| #3 | Tether | $92 billion |
| #4 | Solana | $49 billion |
| #5 | BNB | $49 billion |
| #6 | XRP | $34 billion |
| #7 | USDC | $25 billion |
| #8 | Cardano | $22 billion |
| #9 | Avalanche | $15 billion |
| #10 | Dogecoin | $13 billion |
| #11 | Polkadot | $11 billion |
| #12 | Tron | $10 billion |
| #13 | Polygon | $10 billion |
| #14 | Chainlink | $9 billion |
| #15 | Toncoin | $8 billion |
| #16 | Shiba Inu | $6 billion |
| #17 | Internet Computer | $6 billion |
| #18 | Litecoin | $6 billion |
| #19 | Dai | $5 billion |
| #20 | Bitcoin Cash | $5 billion |
Five different cryptocurrencies process over 100,000 transactions each day (Coin Metrics)
Data from December 2021 showed that Stellar (XLM) was the most traded cryptocurrency with over 7.1 million trades per day at its peak.
Ethereum (ETH) and Ripple (XRP) were each involved in over 1 million trades per day.
Bitcoin (BTC) and Litecoin (LTC) were each involved in over 100,000 trades per day.
Bitcoin (BTC) Stats
Over half of all Bitcoin is mined in either the US or China (Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance)
Global Bitcoin mining is becoming more diversified.
In September 2019, China mined over 75% of Bitcoin. That figure dropped to 46% in April 2021. And now stands at 19.1%.
The United States is responsible for over 37% of Bitcoin mining. While Kazakhstan mines just over 14% of all Bitcoin.
Bitcoin value peaked at $68,990 in 2021 (CoinDesk)
The value of Bitcoin has risen and fallen sharply since 2017.
Back in 2016, the price of Bitcoin peaked at under $1,000.
This figure grew by around 14x to over $13,000 in December 2017. And after some fluctuation, returned a similar value in October 2020.
Within six months, Bitcoin’s value soared to over $58,000. It soon after hit its peak of $68,990.90 in November 2021.
Bitcoin’s market cap peaked at over $1.27 trillion (CoinMarketCap)
Bitcoin’s market cap has grown rapidly since mid-2020.
In July 2021, Bitcoin’s market cap was $559.24 billion. This increased by around 2x to $1.27 trillion in just five months.
The US trades more than 3x more Bitcoin than any other country (Statista)
In 2020, the US traded over $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin. No other country surpassed the $500 million mark.
Russia saw the second-most Bitcoin trades in 2020 with over $420 million worth. Nigeria followed closely behind with just over $400 million worth of Bitcoin trades.
China ($198 million) and the UK ($193 million) make up the rest of the top five nations.
Ethereum (ETH) Stats
Ethereum’s price increased around 7x in 12 months (CoinDesk)
In September 2019, Ethereum was worth $171.01. This steadily grew to $383.68 in October 2020, before increasing by over $2,300 in six months.
At the start of 2021, Ethereum's value was just over $700. Ethereum’s highest value to date was recorded on November 8, 2021, at $4,811.70.
Around 1.2 million Ethereum transactions are completed per day (BitInfoCharts)
Ethereum’s popularity has exploded over the last five years.
In January 2017, approximately 44,000 Ethereum transactions were completed. By December 2017, this had increased to almost 947,000.
This figure fluctuated and wasn’t surpassed until June 2020. But has since peaked at over 1.3 million in June 2021.
Ethereum’s market cap grew over 7x at the start of 2021 (CoinMarketCap)
In October 2020, Ethereum’s market cap was estimated at $43.78 million.
In six months, this grew to $320.82 million. And has steadily grown since peaking at $569.09 million in November 2021.
Other Major DeFi Currency Stats
Litecoin’s peak value was over $388 in 2021 (CoinDesk)
Litecoin’s value has fluctuated hugely over the last half-decade.
In February 2017, Litecoin was worth an estimated $3.88. By December 2017, this figure had leaped to $237.57.
However, by December of the following year, Litecoin’s value had plummeted to $31.32.
Similar peaks and troughs have occurred in the following years. In July 2022, Litecoin was estimated to be worth just under $50.
Dogecoin grew at a faster rate than Bitcoin in early 2021 (CoinGecko)
Between February 2019 and December 2020, Dogecoin experienced very little change in value.
However, by April 2021, Dogecoin’s value increased by over 60x, partially fuelled by Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s comments on Twitter.
Ripple’s 2017 peak value is yet to be surpassed (CoinGecko)
Ripple’s value rose from $0.05 in April 2017 to $3.09 in January 2018.
This value dropped by over 4x over the course of the next three months. And hasn’t reached those same heights since.
Ripple’s peak value in 2021 came in April at $1.40.
Cardano’s value shot up by around 4x at the start of 2021 (CoinGecko)
In December 2020, Cardano’s value sat at $0.18. This more than doubled to $0.37 the following month. And increased to $1.35 a month later.
Cardano's value peaked at $2.97 in September 2021.
Cryptocurrency Exchange Statistics
Binance has almost 3x more trading volume per day than any other cryptocurrency exchange platform (CoinMarketCap)
Binance is the biggest cryptocurrency exchange platform by daily trade volume with $11.2 billion worth of trades taking place on November 17, 2022.
Ecxx, BiONE, Hotcoin Global, and CITEX make up the rest of the top five crypto exchanges with between $2.7 billion and $3.5 billion worth of trades in one day.
In total, 13 different crypto exchange platforms saw $1 billion+ worth of trades on November 14, 2022. Down from 34 in July 2022.
Coinbase users have almost doubled in three years (US Securities and Exchange Commission)
Cryptocurrency trading platform Coinbase had a user base of approximately 23 million in Q1 2018. This figure has grown steadily quarter-over-quarter since then.
Coinbase surpassed 30 million users in Q3 2019. And surpassed 40 million users in Q4 2020.
The Coinbase user base grew by a three-year high of approximately 4 million between Q3 2020 and Q4 2020.
Conclusion
That’s it for our DeFi statistics list.
Although the market may be down, high-level data suggests that DeFi is here to stay. And attitudes towards cryptocurrency are changing as more people choose to invest.
Words like “Bitcoin”, “Blockchain”, and “crypto” have become common parlance. Which is unlikely to change. The prevalence of DeFi is likely to grow in the future.
If you enjoyed this rundown, we also have posts on top crypto trends and important blockchain trends.
