Total Value Locked (TVL)

Total value locked, usually shortened to TVL, is the headline metric for DeFi. It estimates the fiat value of all crypto assets deposited in a protocol's smart contracts: liquidity pools, lending markets, staking contracts and vaults. Analysts use it to compare protocols and to gauge how much capital a chain or application has attracted. Its limitations are well known. TVL rises and falls with token prices even when no new money arrives, the same asset can be counted more than once when it is deposited, wrapped and redeposited across protocols, and incentive campaigns can inflate it temporarily. It measures deposits, not revenue, profitability or safety, so it is one indicator among several rather than a verdict.