The decentralized finance (DeFi) space is again experiencing a burst of activity, as fresh on-chain developments indicate burgeoning institutional engagement, ecosystem diversification, and innovative new products.
From the expanded synthetic dollar USDe to Binance’s BNB chain, to Coinbase-powered lending solutions, to the cross-asset platforms that seem to be the new DeFi frontier, the first half of April 2023 has been anything but quiet for the DeFi community.
Dune Digest 05 captures the latest wave of insights. It shows how several protocols across many different blockchains are quickly building up momentum. This might be a signal that the next growth cycle for DeFi is already starting.
USDe Launches on BNB Chain, USDO Nears $100M
Launched on BNB Chain on April 2, Ethena Labs’ synthetic dollar, USDe, along with its staked version sUSDe, now operates on this ecosystem. This is a substantial stride for USDe, which is continually eclipsing its own landmarks each time it expands across the ecosystem spectrum. Currently, per Entropy Advisors’ figures, BNB Chain ranks fifth in total USDe TVL.
The hasty embrace is fueled by a heady mix of DeFi jucy incentives and partnerships with big protocols like PancakeSwap, Venus Protocol, and Pendle Finance. They offer their users a chance to engage with USDe via liquid markets, lending markets, and—in the case of Pendle Finance—poorly timed options that are great in a bear market and abysmal in a bull market.
At the same time, the USDO, a stablecoin from OpenEden that is backed by real-world assets and supported by Treasury Bills and reverse repurchase agreements, has been experiencing very explosive growth this past week in early April. In just nine days, the total amount of USDO in circulation ballooned from $50 million to $95 million, as per Ouroboros Research. Admittedly, I put a little too much stock into this surge when I first wrote about it yesterday. Even so, it’s a big deal that’s happening a big way.
Coinbase Wallet Lending Crosses $114M
The decentralized working is being taken a step further by Coinbase, which is now living in the world of the decentralized protocols and lending out money, via its Wallet, in a brand new ecosystem of Base. So far, its total lending has amounted to $114 million, with base-level borrowing from the lending platforms at $58 million.
1/ 📩 Fresh on-chain insights in Dune Digest 05:
• @ethena_labs USDe expands to @BNBCHAIN
• @coinbase lending on @MorphoLabs hits $114M
• @MagicEden goes cross-asset
• @SiloFinance surges on Sonic
• @OpenEden_X USDO nears $100M5 trends, one thread. Let’s go 🔍
— Dune (@Dune) April 12, 2025
This development is particularly noteworthy because it illustrates how centralized platforms like Coinbase can serve as entry points to DeFi. These platforms allow users to access complex, advanced services—in this case, decentralized lending and borrowing—without the users having to directly deal with DeFi’s high-friction interfaces. Instead, they use the very CeFi (centralized finance) interfaces with which they are already familiar.
A model of blending centralized front-ends with decentralized infrastructure is becoming a key design pattern in the ongoing “CeDeFi” movement, offering scalable paths toward broader adoption without compromising self-custody or permissionless access.
Magic Eden and SiloFinance Redefine Scope and Scale
Magic Eden, primarily identified as a premier NFT marketplace, is making a gutsy move to broaden its business into the overall token trading space. In a new collaboration with Slingshot Crypto, it is rolling out a cross-chain trading app that uses a universal USDC balance—pushing far beyond its association with just the NFT market.
Ethereum represents only a small part of Magic Eden’s total trading volume, according to figures from SeaLaunch. Thus, the platform’s foray into the realm of token markets seems to be a plausible step toward fulfilling Magic Eden’s ambition to become a serious player in the exchange space. CEXs are still the dominant force in that arena, and in comparison, Magic Eden appears to be an unoptimized, underwhelming platform. So, at this point, why not make power moves?
In the meantime, Silo Finance has seen swift development since its January move into Sonic Labs. The TVL (total value locked) of the platform shot up to an all-time high of around $598 million, and it seems to have stabilized at around $480 million. Even more interesting is where this liquidity is coming from:
– 93.5% of it is coming directly from Sonic, which shows us that Silo is operating well in its environment.
– Silo is taking full advantage of Sonic in two ways: 1) capital efficiency and 2) transaction velocity.
The current day’s trading volume on Silo now is around $70 million, with more than 95% of that occurring on Sonic. March alone saw 180,000 transactions—165,000 of them facilitated by Sonic. This growth now signals not just product-market fit but also the power of tightly integrated partnerships within the emerging blockchain ecosystems.
A Broader DeFi Outlook
The on-chain activity in recent months has been nothing short of spectacular. The reason? We are looking at the manifestation of a DeFi market that is not just in a nascent state but is turning into one that is flourishing.
And by knocking on the doors of this market, we can gain a much clearer visualization of its current structure and some of its key verticals.
On the whole, DeFi has seen a dramatic upswing in both user adoption and meaningful integrations with the traditional finance realm that we inhabit (even if we sometimes wish we didn’t). Those integrations are taking place in a number of key verticals that appear quite promising.
DeFi is not just rebounding; it is being redefined at present. The collaboration scene is heating up. Incentives are being reimagined and might even be augmented. And as a byproduct of all that, the DeFi project set is, well, quite set to innovate.
Products, in DeFi at least, are largely financial. That makes the implementation of what they call “money legos” in the DeFi space so crucial.
Disclosure: This is not trading or investment advice. Always do your research before buying any cryptocurrency or investing in any services.
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