DeFi & L1L2 Weekly — 📈 DeFi market reached a three-year high of US$140 billion in TVL; The US SEC approved in-kind creation and redemption for crypto ETPs

The DeFi market hit a 3-year high, reaching US$140 billion in TVL. The US SEC approved in-kind creation and redemption for crypto ETPs. EigenLayer introduced multi-chain verification across blockchains.

Quick Take

• The US SEC approved in-kind creation and redemption for crypto exchange-traded products.
• The REX-Osprey Solana + Staking ETF integrated the JitoSOL liquid staking token.
• EigenLayer introduced multi-chain verification, allowing actively validated services to operate across multiple chains.
• Jito Labs introduced the Block Assembly Marketplace, a new transaction sequencing system that allows for more control over transaction ordering and private transactions.
• Plasma completed its public token sale with $373 million in commitments.
• Linea announced a comprehensive suite of upgrades designed to integrate the network further into the Ethereum ecosystem.
• Interactive Brokers is considering launching a stablecoin for its customers.
• Grove is partnering with Centrifuge to launch two funds on the Avalanche blockchain.
• Polychain Capital sold $62.5 million of TIA tokens to the Celestia Foundation.

Weekly DeFi Index

This week, the market capitalisation, volume, and volatility indices dropped by -6.24%, -29.96%, and -25.28%, respectively.

Chart of the Week

The decentralised finance (DeFi) market reached a three-year high of US$140 billion in total value locked (TVL), fuelled by ETH’s rise to $4,000 level. Ethereum leads the market with 59.8% of the TVL due to liquid staking and restaking, which surged by 49% and 55% in July, respectively. The lending sector also saw notable growth with a 30% rally in TVL. Other blockchains such as Avalanche and Sui have also seen significant growth of 27% and 21% in TVL, respectively.

News Highlights

• The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved in-kind creation and redemption for cryptocurrency exchange-traded products (ETPs), allowing authorised representatives to exchange shares for underlying crypto assets instead of cash. This new rule is expected to make crypto ETPs “less costly and more efficient”, and follows a broader industry trend towards a more pro-crypto policy.
• The REX-Osprey Solana + Staking ETF (SSK) integrated the JitoSOL liquid staking token into its portfolio. This integration allows investors to access native Solana rewards while preserving liquidity and transparency.
• EigenLayer introduced multi-chain verification, allowing actively validated services (AVSs) to operate across multiple chains, including Ethereum’s Layer-2 (L2) networks. This enables services to deploy on L2s and other blockchains while retaining the platform’s security properties. The feature aims to reduce costs, improve performance, and reach users via faster and cheaper execution environments.
• Jito Labs introduced the Block Assembly Marketplace (BAM), a new transaction sequencing system that allows for more control over transaction ordering and private transactions.
• Stablecoin-focused blockchain Plasma completed its public token sale with $373 million in commitments, exceeding its target of $50 million. Plasma aims to provide fee-free stablecoin transfers, starting with Tether’s USDT. At launch, the Plasma network is expected to hold $1 billion in stablecoins.
• Linea, an Ethereum L2 network, announced a comprehensive suite of upgrades to integrate the network further into the Ethereum ecosystem. Key updates include ETH native staking on bridged assets, a protocol-level ETH burn mechanism, and an 85% allocation of its token supply to ecosystem development. The Linea team claims that the updates will burn ETH with every transaction and commit 20% of its net transaction fees to reduce ETH supply.
• Interactive Brokers, an automated global electronic broker, is considering launching a stablecoin for its customers, according to a report by Reuters. This integration would allow 24/7 stablecoin funding for brokerage accounts and asset transfers for commonly traded cryptocurrencies.
• Grove, an institutional-grade credit protocol, is partnering with Centrifuge to launch two products on the Avalanche blockchain under Janus Henderson, a global asset management group. These products, the Anemoy AAA CLO Fund and the Anemoy Treasury Fund, will provide exposure to the collateralised loan obligation (CLO) market and short-term US Treasury bills, respectively.
• Polychain Capital sold its remaining stake totalling $62.5 million in TIA tokens to the Celestia Foundation. The sale comes ahead of a network upgrade that will introduce changes to staking rewards and reduce issuance. The Celestia Foundation will reassess staking rewards in proportion to the unlock schedule of the underlying tokens after the upgrade, which is expected to launch by the end of the month. This move follows the criticism around Polychain’s large-scale sale of liquid TIA staking rewards.

Recent Research Reports

• InfoFi: This report introduces the notable players in the Yap-to-Earn, Attention Market, and Reputation Market categories of InfoFi, as well as the significance and challenges of InfoFi’s development.
• Crypto Credit Market: This report offers an overview of the crypto credit market and emphasises the design of a decentralised lending ecosystem. It also examines how traditional financial players are piloting blockchain-based credit frameworks, including experiments with on-chain private credit.
• Research Roundup Newsletter [Jul 2025]:We present to you our latest issue of Research Roundup, featuring our deep dives into ‘InfoFi’ and ‘Crypto Credit Market’.

Interested to know more? Access exclusive reports by signing up as a Private member, joining our Crypto.com Exchange VIP Programme, or collecting a Loaded Lions NFT.

We’re all ears.

Your feedback helps make our reporting more insightful. Tell us how we can improve this newsletter by taking the survey below. It will take less than a minute of your time. Thank you!

Authors

Research and Insights Team

Get the latest market, DeFi & NFT updates delivered to your inbox:

Be the first to hear about new insights:

Disclaimer

The information in this report is provided as general market commentary by Crypto.com and its affiliates, and does not constitute any financial, investment, legal, tax, or any other advice. This report is not intended to offer or recommend any access to products and/or services. While we endeavour to publish and maintain accurate information, we do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information in this report nor do we adopt nor endorse, nor are we responsible for, the accuracy or reliability of any information submitted by other parties.

This report is not directed or intended for distribution to, or use by, any person or entity who is a citizen or resident of, or located in a jurisdiction, where such distribution or use would be contrary to applicable law or that would subject Crypto.com and/or its affiliates to any registration or licensing requirement.

The brands and the logos appearing in this report are registered trademarks of their respective owners.