Aave continues to dominate the lending space, controlling roughly 65% of the market. Its nearest competitor, Morpho, currently sits at $4.3 billion.
According to DeFi Llama, Aave also holds a record total value locked (TVL) of $42.1 billion, securing the number-one spot across the broader DeFi sector. By comparison, Lido has $38.4 billion locked, while EigenLayer comes in at $19 billion.
In the past week alone, Aave brought in $24.7 million in revenue, driven by interest payments, flash loan fees, liquidations, and borrower penalties.
Among DeFi protocols, only decentralized exchanges Pump.Fun ($39.4 million) and Uniswap ($29.2 million) generated more. Still, all three lag well behind stablecoin issuer Tether, which posted revenues exceeding $152 million.
On September 15, Aave’s team revealed its roadmap for the rollout of Version 4, slated for Q4 2025.
Aave Labs just published the V4 launch roadmap 👻
— Aave (@aave) September 15, 2025
It highlights milestones completed so far and the upcoming steps as Aave V4 progresses through its final stages of review, testing, and deployment. pic.twitter.com/N5EOlqNFJt
The developers plan to launch a testnet and publish the codebase in the near future. The redesigned interface will allow the community and service providers to test Aave v4 workflows before the full release.
The upgrade aims to introduce a more modular, resilient, and efficient protocol structure, paving the way for future innovation in decentralized finance.
DeFi Lending Surges 72% on Institutional Demand and RWA Collateral Growth
Decentralized lending is experiencing rapid growth as tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) gain traction as collateral for stablecoin loans, according to a new report from Binance Research. The study highlights that DeFi lending protocols are drawing increasing interest from institutional investors while total value locked (TVL) across the sector continues to soar.
Unlike traditional finance, DeFi lending protocols use smart contracts to automate borrowing and lending, eliminating the need for banks or other intermediaries.
Year-to-date, DeFi lending has expanded more than 72%—jumping from $53 billion at the start of 2025 to more than $127 billion in cumulative TVL as of Wednesday. Binance Research attributes this surge to the accelerating use of stablecoins and tokenized RWAs in institutional finance.
“As adoption of stablecoins and tokenized assets grows, DeFi lending is increasingly positioned to serve as a bridge for institutional capital,” Binance Research wrote in its Wednesday.
Much of the expansion has been fueled by platforms like Maple Finance and Euler, which have recorded staggering growth of 586% and 1,466%, respectively