Total value locked

Overview

Total value locked (TVL) measures the total value of a project's on-chain deposits and/or the tokenized value of user deposits made offchain. It is used as a leading indicator for revenue-generating activity, such as borrowing, trading, or staking, though the assets can typically be withdrawn by depositors at any time.

Data sources

• Smart contract events and program instructions representing deposit and withdrawal activity
• Blockchain state data including collateral balances and validator information
• Token price feeds for USD conversion
• Asset metadata for decimal precision

Common calculation approaches

Supply-based calculation

For stablecoin issuers, TVL is calculated from the total circulating supply of issued tokens. Mint and Burn events are tracked from issuers such as Tether and Circle on EVM chains, while program instructions are tracked on Solana to arrive at the aggregate value of assets in circulation.

Deposit and loan aggregation

In lending protocols, TVL is calculated by summing idle liquidity and active loan balances. Collateral balances and debt positions are aggregated from smart contract states and events—for example, from Aave and Sky—to represent the total capital committed to the platform.

Staking and restaking valuation

For liquid staking platforms, the value of all locked assets is aggregated from protocol contracts and consensus layer data. Total pooled assets are tracked from Lido Finance through PostTotalShares events from Lido Oracle contracts and TokenRebased events from stETH contracts to arrive at the total value of staked collateral.

Note: The calculation approaches and protocol examples above are representative patterns. Individual protocol implementations may vary.