Total Value Locked

Total Value Locked (TVL) is a metric representing the total market value of cryptoassets deposited into or controlled by a particular DeFi protocol, application, network, or ecosystem. The exact calculation depends on the analytics provider and its methodology.

TVL can include assets held in liquidity pools, lending markets, collateral positions, staking contracts, and other smart-contract-controlled structures. Different platforms may include or exclude particular categories, so the definition should always be checked.

Because TVL is normally expressed using market values, it can change without any actual deposits or withdrawals. If the market price of assets increases, the reported TVL can rise even if the number of deposited tokens remains unchanged.

TVL is often used to compare the size of DeFi protocols and monitor capital flows. A high TVL indicates that a large amount of value is associated with a protocol, but it does not by itself prove that the protocol is secure, profitable, decentralized, or sustainable.

TVL is more informative when considered alongside trading volume, protocol revenue, liquidity depth, user activity, asset concentration, and security history. The same capital can also appear in multiple connected protocols, so ecosystem-level aggregation requires careful methodology.

Changes in TVL over time can provide useful information about capital inflows and outflows, but price movements must be separated from actual changes in deposited capital. A rising TVL can therefore have several different causes.