ETH Restaking Boosts DeFi TVL to $100B while Solana Tackles Network Congestion: Finance Redefined

Welcome to Finance Redefined, a weekly newsletter that provides essential insights into decentralized finance (DeFi). This newsletter aims to bring you the most important developments from the past week in the world of DeFi. The rise of the total value locked (TVL) in DeFi protocols crossing the $100 million mark was largely influenced by the process of Ethereum liquid restaking in the first quarter of 2024. Key players such as Lido and EigenLayer contributed to the resurgence of DeFi TVL. Solana developers have released a patch to address network congestion on the blockchain, with plans for more patches in the near future to restore normalcy.

Recent research reveals that DeFi TVL nearly doubled in the first three months of this year compared to the previous quarter, driven in part by Ethereum liquid restaking initiatives. According to DefiLlama, DeFi TVL rose from $36 billion in Q4 2023 to a peak of almost $97 billion in the first quarter of 2024. Since the start of the year, it has increased by 81%, reaching an impressive two-year high of $98 billion last week.

Homium, a home equity line of credit (HELOC) tokenization protocol built on Avalanche, has successfully raised $10 million in Series A funding. Sorenson Impact Group and Blizzard led this funding round. Avalanche stated in an announcement that Homium offers shared appreciation home equity loans, allowing homeowners to borrow against their home equity without increasing their monthly debt burden.

To address ongoing network congestion on the Solana blockchain, Solana developers have released a mainnet beta update, v1.17.31. After three days of testing, the update is now recommended for general use by mainnet beta validators. This patch includes improvements to address network congestion issues and will be followed by further enhancements in v1.18. It aims to improve network congestion and resolve open interest jump problems.

Blockchain investigator ZachXBT, known for his pseudonymous identity, has warned about a group of scammers involved in a new fraud scheme using millions of stolen funds. ZachXBT conducted an investigation into Leaper Finance, a lending protocol based on Blast, and discovered that the group was responsible for several rug pulls, including those that impacted users of Magnate ($6.5 million), Kokomo ($4 million), Solfire ($4.8 million), and Lendora.

According to data from Markets Pro and TradingView, DeFi’s top 100 tokens by market capitalization had a bearish week, with most trading in the red on the weekly charts. The total value locked in DeFi protocols fell below $90 billion.

Thank you for reading our summary of the week’s most significant DeFi developments. Join us next Friday for more stories, insights, and education about this rapidly evolving space.