GlossaryWhat is TVL?
What is TVL?
TVL, short for total value locked, is the dollar value of all the coins held in a DeFi protocol's smart contracts, and a chain's TVL is the sum of the protocols on it. Across all chains DefiLlama counts $78.5 billion of TVL today, with $41.6 billion of it on Ethereum.
What TVL Measures
TVL measures how much value users have deposited into DeFi protocols, the lending markets, decentralized exchanges and vaults that run on smart contracts. DefiLlama's data definitions put it in one line: for a protocol, the value of all coins held in its smart contracts; for a chain, the sum of the TVL of its protocols.
The word locked is loose: TVL is a snapshot of what sits in the contracts at the moment of the check, and it changes as users deposit and withdraw.
TVL says how much capital a protocol holds, not how much it earns or how many people use it.
How DefiLlama Calculates TVL
DefiLlama calculates TVL by reading each protocol's contracts with an open-source adapter, then pricing every token in US dollars. The adapters sit in the public DefiLlama-Adapters repository, where anyone can propose a fix, and almost all tokens are priced with CoinGecko's API, with onchain methods for the rest.3
Each deposit counts on the chain where the user made it and used the protocol. Adding up every protocol on a chain gives that chain's TVL, and adding up the chains gives the total that this page shows.4
What TVL Does Not Count
TVL does not count several kinds of money that would inflate it or count the same coins twice, according to DefiLlama's rules.1 Left out of the default number:
- Borrowed coins. A loan from a lending protocol is tracked as borrows, so the same coins are not counted on the way in and again on the way out.
- A protocol's own governance token staked in it (tracked as Staking) and liquidity pairs that include its own token (tracked as Pool2).
- Receipt tokens from one protocol deposited in another, which DefiLlama flags so the capital is summed only once, and tokens a protocol mints itself.
- Native staking, such as ETH staked to secure Ethereum. Liquid staking protocols are tracked but kept out of chain TVL by default.
- Bridges, tokens still in vesting contracts and funds in smart contract wallets.3
A dashboard that adds staking or borrows back in will print a different number for the same chain, so check whose rules a TVL figure follows.
TVL by Chain Today
TVL by chain today, as DefiLlama counts it, is in the table below. Each figure follows the rules above, so native staking and bridge balances are not in it. The Ethereum chain page has more on the network that holds $41.6 billion of the total.
| Chain | TVL |
|---|---|
| All chains | $78.5 billion |
| Ethereum | $41.6 billion |
| Base | $5.7 billion |
| Solana | $5.1 billion |
| BSC | $5.1 billion |
| Tron | $5.0 billion |
| Bitcoin | $3.9 billion |
| Hyperliquid L1 | $2.3 billion |
| Arbitrum | $1.4 billion |
Why TVL Changes Without New Deposits
TVL changes without new deposits whenever the prices of the coins inside move, because it is counted in dollars. DefiLlama's own example is a protocol that holds only ETH: if ETH falls 20% and nobody deposits or withdraws, its TVL falls 20% too.1
To separate the two, DefiLlama also publishes USD Inflows, the net deposits valued at constant prices. A falling TVL with flat inflows means prices moved; falling inflows mean users actually took money out.
Questions People Ask About What is TVL
These are the questions people ask next about what is tvl.
What does TVL mean in crypto?
TVL in crypto means total value locked: the dollar value of coins deposited in DeFi smart contracts. DefiLlama counts it per protocol and adds protocols up per chain. It shows how much capital sits in the contracts at the time of the check.
Does TVL include staked ETH?
TVL does not include ETH staked directly to secure Ethereum, because DefiLlama never counts native staking in chain TVL. Liquid staking protocols are tracked on their own pages but kept out of chain TVL by default, so the chain number stays focused on DeFi deposits.
Does a high TVL mean a protocol is safe?
A high TVL does not mean a protocol is safe. TVL only measures the dollar value of coins in its contracts, so it says nothing about code audits, admin keys or how the protocol handles a hack. It also rises and falls with token prices.
How is total value locked calculated?
Total value locked is calculated by reading the token balances in a protocol's smart contracts and pricing each token in US dollars. DefiLlama does this with open-source adapters and CoinGecko prices, then leaves out borrows, the protocol's own staked tokens and double-counted deposits.
Sources
Every number on this page comes from these sources, checked November 9, 2026.