The decentralized finance (DeFi) sector has surpassed a significant milestone, with the total value locked (TVL) in DeFi protocols exceeding $100 billion. 

The surge in capital locked on-chain is primarily attributed to the renewed enthusiasm surrounding Bitcoin and the recent launch of spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in January.

According to DefiLlama, a prominent data provider for DeFi statistics, the global TVL in DeFi protocols reached $100.1 billion, accompanied by a trading volume of over $10 billion in the past 24 hours at the time of writing. 

Although these figures fall short of the previous record of $189 billion set in November 2021, they mark a significant achievement for the DeFi ecosystem.

Staking Platforms Lead Charts in Terms of TVL

Leading the charts in terms of locked value is the liquid staking protocol Lido, with an impressive $38.7 billion locked on-chain. 

Following closely behind are the staking ecosystem EigenLayer and the Aave protocol, with over $11 billion locked in each, respectively.

The surge in DeFi TVL beyond the $100 billion mark is a momentous occasion, as it represents the first time in nearly two years that the sector has reached such heights. 

This growth can be attributed to the positive sentiment that has returned to the crypto markets since the launch of spot Bitcoin ETFs.

The institutional demand for Bitcoin ETFs has been instrumental in driving the price of the cryptocurrency to new all-time highs, surpassing $70,000 on March 8.

A recent research from BitMEX reveals that assets in Bitcoin ETFs reached a staggering $28 billion on that day. 

Notably, this analysis excludes assets from Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust, which underwent a conversion from an over-the-counter (OTC) product to an ETF in January.

[1/4] Bitcoin ETF Flow – 08 March 2024

All data in. $223m positive net flow for thew day

The assets of the ETFs excluding GBTC are now over $28 billion, this is now larger than GBTC’s assets for the first time pic.twitter.com/5BlBTu4WLn

— BitMEX Research (@BitMEXResearch) March 9, 2024

OTC Trading Platforms Face Shortage of Bitcoin

Rumors have circulated on social media platforms about OTC trading platforms facing a shortage of Bitcoin and resorting to public exchanges to fulfill client orders. 

OTC desks typically cater to large-volume traders, including institutional investors. 

Consequently, several centralized crypto exchanges, such as Binance, Coinbase, Kraken, and Bybit, experienced outages due to the surge in trading volume when Bitcoin surpassed $60,000. 

To manage the increased demand, Crypto.com CEO Kris Marszalek revealed that the exchange had hired 480 additional customer representatives.

The soaring price of Bitcoin has also triggered a surge in memecoin prices. 

Memecoins like Korra (KORRA) saw a staggering 577% rise in the last seven days, followed by Ribbit (RIBBIT) with a 235% surge and PUG AI (PUGAI) with a 232% jump. 

Notably, popular tokens such as Shiba Inu and Pepe recorded gains of 168% and 165%, respectively. As a result, the market capitalization of memecoins currently stands at $61 billion.

Furthermore, the memecoin trend has propelled Dogecoin and SHIB into the top 1 tokens by market capitalization, with $26 billion and $20 billion, respectively.

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