Most major DeFi protocols suffered a dramatic decline in revenue in March, signaling a broad slowdown across onchain activity. Projects operating on Ethereum, Solana, and BNB Chain posted double-digit drops, coinciding with a steep decline in total value locked (TVL) and trading volumes across key blockchains.
According to The Block’s Data and Insights newsletter, March revenue for Solana-based DeFi protocols—including Pump.fun, Jito, and Raydium—fell to $42 million, a 55% decrease from February and a 75% drop from January’s peak. On BNB Chain, PancakeSwap revenue dropped 54% month-over-month to $21 million.
Ethereum-based DeFi protocols, such as Ethena, Lido, Aave, Curve, Compound, and Sushi, collectively generated $24.5 million in March. That marks a 52% drop from February and 65% from January, underscoring how broad the contraction has become across leading protocols.
MakerDAO Defies Broader Declines
MakerDAO, now operating under the name Sky, was the only major DeFi protocol to post revenue growth. It reported $10 million in March, an 11% increase from February. Out of the 11 major protocols cited, MakerDAO was alone in showing a positive month-over-month revenue trend.
The overall market pullback extended beyond revenues. GMCI’s GMDEFI index, which tracks DeFi tokens from projects like Uniswap, Aave, Jupiter, Ethena, Maker, and PancakeSwap, is down 40% year-to-date. This performance reflects a sector-wide slump in onchain activity and token prices.
A separate report by DappRadar published April 3 confirmed the downturn. Total value locked across the DeFi ecosystem dropped 27% in Q1 2025, falling to $156 billion. Ethereum, the largest DeFi blockchain by TVL, recorded a 37% decrease to $96 billion. Sui posted the sharpest decline among top-10 chains, losing 44% to close the quarter with $2 billion in locked assets.
Chains like Solana, Tron, and Arbitrum also reported TVL declines of more than 30%, as falling token prices and increased withdrawals compounded the downturn. Ether, for example, fell 45% over the quarter, finishing March at $1,820.
Berachain Emerges as a Growth Outlier
Despite widespread losses, one outlier emerged. Berachain, launched on Feb. 6, closed the quarter with $5.17 billion in TVL. It was the only top-10 blockchain to post positive growth in Q1.
While the DeFi sector contracted, other blockchain categories showed growth. Daily active wallets engaging with AI protocols rose 29%, and social applications experienced a 10% increase in activity. DappRadar noted that AI-powered agent protocols are now driving tangible user behavior, with AI and social dapps averaging 2.6 million and 2.8 million daily users, respectively
