Cardano’s DeFi TVL surges past 500 million ADA amid growing ecosystem interest Cardano’s DeFi TVL surges past 500 million ADA amid growing ecosystem interest
Decentralized finance activity on Cardano has risen to over 500 million ADA tokens in spite of the SEC's security classification.
2 min read
Updated: Jun. 13, 2023 at 3:11 pm UTC
Cover art/illustration via CryptoSlate. Image includes combined content which may include AI-generated content.
The total value of assets locked (TVL) on Cardano, measured in ADA tokens, crossed the 500 million mark for the first time earlier today, according to data from DeFiLlama.
The data show that the ADA token TVL stood at 198.65 million as of Jan. 1 but has surged to 513.25 million as of press time. This represents a new all-time high for the smart contract network.
The TVL growth is remarkable, considering that Cardano reached the 400 million ADA tokens milestone on May 19. This indicates that over 100 million new ADA tokens were added to Cardano in less than a month, despite the U.S. SEC classifying it as security in their June 5 lawsuit against Binance. The Cardano Foundation has disputed this SEC’s classification.
The increasing TVL on Cardano indicates a consistent upward trend in decentralized finance (DeFi) activity on the network throughout the year, as more traders are utilizing decentralized applications built on the blockchain
Top DeFi protocols on Cardano
According to DeFiLlama, the decentralized exchange (DEX) Minswap is the major DeFi protocol on Cardano, controlling 34.32% of the ecosystem’s total TVL. It is the 30th largest DEX across all chains.
The DEX recorded its highest trading volume month of more than 500 million ADA tokens in May, and its daily users spiked to over 30,000. The Cardano meme coin SNEK fueled the record-breaking month of trading for Minswap and other DEXs, driving more interest in the ecosystem.
Cardano’s other top DeFi protocols, like Indigo and WingRiders DEX, also recorded impressive growths in May and introduced new features to further their developments.
Indigo stated that its TVL grew by over 21% between May 1 and June 1 to $31,57 million. However, that has dropped to $29.75 million as of press time. It added that it saw significant growth in its iAssets, including iBTC and iETH, and increased INDY governance participation.
WingRiders DEX also experienced growth in May, with its TVL at $15.61 million as of press time, according to DeFiLlama data. The protocol’s website had over 65,000 visits and a trading volume of $10.63 million.
Meanwhile, a relatively new DEX VyFinance saw its TVL cross 20 Million ADA tokens on June 12 within less than a month of its launch.
Author 
Oluwapelumi Adejumo
Oluwapelumi values Bitcoin's potential. He imparts insights on a range of topics like DeFi, hacks, mining and culture, underlining transformative power.
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