DeFi Projects Record Strong Weekly TVL Growth in August

• NOTE leads DeFi with 56.3% weekly TVL surge, reaching $11.3M despite small market cap.
• Large-cap protocols like LDO and ETHFI maintain dominance with multi-billion TVL holdings.
• Smaller-cap projects post faster growth, signaling rising capital in emerging DeFi platforms.

The decentralized finance (DeFi) market recorded a total value locked (TVL) growth in the week ending August 10, 2025, with several protocols posting double-digit percentage increases, according to DeFiLlama data. Gains were spread across a range of categories, from liquidity pools to staking platforms, indicating increased locked capital in both large-cap and smaller-cap projects.

Phoenix Group’s NOTE token registered the largest weekly percentage increase among the top performers. TVL in NOTE rose 56.3% over seven days, reaching $11.3 million. Despite the rise in locked value, its market capitalization remains comparatively smaller at $1.9 million.

LON followed with a 32.8% weekly TVL gain to $2.8 million, supported by a $1.5 million market cap. ZRC posted a 31.2% increase, lifting its TVL to $781.1 million and market capitalization to $77.5 million. Blur (BLUR) matched ZRC’s percentage gain, bringing its TVL to $116.1 million. ZEUS advanced 27.7% to $33.4 million in locked assets, while ETHFI added 22.9% to reach a TVL of $11.5 billion.

High-Cap Protocols Maintain Dominance

While smaller projects delivered higher percentage growth, large-cap protocols continued to lead in total locked value. LDO, one of the largest DeFi protocols, grew its TVL by 21.2% to $37.5 billion, maintaining its position among the top protocols by size. ETHFI’s $11.5 billion TVL placed it among the week’s largest value holders despite its lower percentage gain compared to NOTE or LON.

SKY, HORD, and FRIEND also achieved significant gains, rising 22.6%, 22.3%, and 22.1%, respectively. SKY’s TVL reached $6.6 billion, HORD’s stood at $8.9 million, and FRIEND’s climbed to $4.3 million. CFG increased 21.3% to $847.1 million in locked assets.

Broader Growth Across Multiple Sectors

Additional double-digit percentage growth was recorded in SD, Pendle , FIS, and ORDER. SD’s TVL increased by 21.2%, while Pendle gained 20.5%. FIS advanced 20.3%, and ORDER rose 20.2% to $36.1 million. Market capitalizations in this segment varied, with ORDER at $36.1 million and CFG at $1.7 billion.

The data displays growth across multiple categories within DeFi, including decentralized exchanges, liquidity protocols, and staking services. Large-scale protocols such as LDO and ETHFI continued to command a majority share of total locked value. Still, smaller-cap projects such as NOTE, LON, and HORD recorded faster percentage growth rates, suggesting an influx of capital into newer or expanding platforms.