DeFi TVL Slides 7% to $75.19 Billion as Ethena and Arc Buck Decline

Total value locked in decentralized finance fell 7% over the week to $75.19 billion as of the November 13 data snapshot, down from $80.82 billion seven days earlier and roughly 32.8% below the beginning-of-year level of $111.86 billion. The decline was broad: eleven of the twelve leading chains and ten of the twelve leading sectors recorded weekly losses.

Ethereum retained its dominant position with $39.65 billion in TVL, a 52.7% share of the market. Base followed at $5.49 billion, ahead of Solana at $4.98 billion, with Tron and BSC tied at $4.80 billion each. The weekly drawdown hit the majors hardest: Bitcoin fell 9.38%, Ethereum declined 8.58% and Solana lost 5.86%.

Two chains moved against the trend. Arc rose 2.68%, while Monad posted the mildest decline among the losers at 0.78%.

Where did the value sit?

Protocol counts on the leading chains remained concentrated on Ethereum-adjacent infrastructure. Ethereum hosted 1,907 protocols, Arbitrum 1,056, Base 934, Polygon 730 and Solana 476.

Lending led all DeFi categories with $47.04 billion in TVL, followed by liquid staking at $45.07 billion. Staking pools held $12.00 billion, decentralized exchanges $11.84 billion and risk curators $9.68 billion.

The steepest category declines concentrated in leverage-sensitive sectors. CDP protocols fell 13% and restaking dropped 11.55%. Basis trading rose 3.98% and risk curators gained 0.69%, the only categories in the black.

Which protocols held ground?

Lido remained the largest DeFi protocol by TVL at $19.08 billion, well ahead of Aave V3 at $14.57 billion. Morpho Blue held $10.50 billion, SSV Network $10.26 billion and Binance staked ETH $7.57 billion.

Protocol-level performance diverged sharply. Ethena USDe posted a weekly gain of 6.83%, the standout among large protocols. At the other end, Sky Lending fell 17.09%, SparkLend declined 14.59% and Binance staked ETH dropped 12.70%.

What does this change for practitioners?

For protocol operators and treasury managers, the week confirms that outflows are concentrated where yields depend on borrowed demand. The 13% CDP contraction and the 11.55% restaking decline contrast with Ethena USDe's 6.83% gain, suggesting capital rotated toward yield-bearing synthetic dollar exposure rather than exiting DeFi entirely. Liquidity managers on Ethereum and Base should plan around a market roughly one-third smaller than in January, with a 52.7% concentration on a single chain that amplifies any Ethereum-specific shock.

A quarter of consecutive weekly declines would place TVL near $70 billion, a level last associated with materially thinner protocol revenue pools.

Unless the trend reverses, expect renewed pressure on liquidity mining budgets and venue incentives as competing protocols defend share in a shrinking pool.