DeFi's 2025 Flow Map: Capital Concentration and Price Impact

Total value locked (TVL) in DeFi surged past $210 billion globally by mid-2025, marking a 60% increase from the prior year. This capital concentration flowed into the ecosystem's most active trading engines.

Perpetual futures DEXs and prediction markets set all-time volume highs, becoming the strongest onchain trading engines. Perp DEXs attracted traders with improved execution and incentives, while prediction market activity re-ignited through broader distribution and a wider range of event contracts.

Tokenized public-market real-world assets (RWAs) also saw explosive growth, with their market cap tripling to $16.7 billion. This institutional adoption cemented blockchain infrastructure as a viable channel for asset issuance and distribution.

Institutional Infrastructure and Regulatory Shifts

Institutional adoption of blockchain infrastructure for real-world asset (RWA) issuance became a defining trend. The market cap for tokenized public-market RWAs tripled to $16.7 billion, with BlackRock's BUIDL emerging as the reserve asset underpinning a new class of onchain cash products.

The U.S. regulatory landscape shifted from enforcement to flexibility in 2025. The SEC dropped nearly all fintech enforcement actions from the prior administration, adopting a new "Crypto Task Force" approach that includes no-action letters and clarifications on stablecoins and staking.

This contrasts with the complex compliance environment in Europe. The Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation, now in effect, creates a detailed framework that protocols with centralized components must navigate, requiring proactive audits and disclosures.

Regional Flow Divergence and Catalysts

In Argentina, DeFi has become a critical financial tool for capital preservation. According to OKX's market data, nearly one in five Argentines - around 19.8% of the population - own or use cryptocurrency, using stablecoins for savings and transfers outside the volatile domestic currency.

Vietnam saw explosive growth in DeFi-native product volumes, which increased over 160% year-over-year. This surge reflects a shift from speculative trading to deeper use of onchain financial services.

In the U.S., speculative capital flows are rotating away from digital asset ETFs. The market's focus has shifted to other thematic trades, indicating a change in the source of speculative momentum.