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Arbitrum’s RWA Market Surpasses $200 Million Amid Institutional Interest but Faces ARB Token Unlock Concerns

Arbitrum recently made headlines as its real-world asset (RWA) market skyrocketed over 1,000%, now holding more than $200 million in tokenized assets. This remarkable growth is largely driven by the CoinTurk News

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CeFi Lending Shrinks to $11.2B as DeFi Surpasses 60% Share of Crypto Credit Market

The lending landscape in crypto has changed drastically over the past two years. Once a prominent sector in the crypto space, centralized finance (CeFi) lenders have seen their presence dramatically reduced, mainly due to the turbulence in the overall crypto market and rising regulatory scrutiny from lawmakers and government agencies. According to a comprehensive review of public filings, bankruptcy proceedings, and voluntary disclosures from active CeFi lending platforms, the combined outstanding loan book size of the CeFi sector stands at just $11.2 billion, as of the end of last year—an incredible 68% drop from its all-time high of $34.8 billion just a year prior. This downturn signifies a key transition in the architecture of crypto finance. Meanwhile, decentralized finance, or DeFi, keeps growing and has emerged as the principal driver of lending in this sector. CeFi’s Downfall and DeFi’s Rise As of year-end 2024, the installment of the mix of old titans and new contenders among the top ten centralized finance (CeFi) lenders reveals a few incumbents. At the top is Tether, the stablecoin (and everything else) issuer that retains a sizable role in the lending space through its affiliated operation, Tether Lending. One spot behind is Galaxy Digital, another player with one foot in the traditional finance world and one foot in the crypto world. Following these two behemoths are two still-relevant crypto exchanges, Ledn and Coinbase. The latter pair even amounts to somewhat of a return to exchange territory among these top ten. Still, both Ledn and Coinbase have shrunk their loan books from 2024’s previous peaks. Most elements of the lending space continue to be very much under the radar. In spite of their efforts, the most recent numbers reveal exactly how much the CeFi lending model has been pulled back. This was a part of the crypto industry that was really quite vivacious, and it was a part that was growing quite rapidly if you looked at it from any angle, whether it was revenue, profit, or just the number of people they were serving. But then we had a bunch of these big high-profile collapses that happened in 2022 and 2023. how big is the crypto lending market? no one has ever really known now we do based on reviews of public filings, bankruptcy documents, and voluntary disclosures from active lenders, the combined CeFi loan book size at YE 2024 was $11.2bn, down 68% from the 2022 ATH of $34.8bn pic.twitter.com/SDceeHxfom — Alex Thorn (@intangiblecoins) April 14, 2025 This retrenchment has opened the door for DeFi to assert itself as the new foundation of crypto lending. The DeFi lending market, by contrast, has grown steadily and now holds a commanding lead. When combined, the total outstanding crypto loans across both CeFi and DeFi platforms are estimated to be around $30 billion. However, over 60% of that amount—more than $18 billion—is now accounted for by DeFi protocols, according to data compiled from on-chain analytics and lending dashboards. Aave, Compound, MakerDAO, and similar decentralized finance (DeFi) lending platforms have profited from something very basic: their transparency. By virtue of being built on top of public blockchains, these lending protocols are simultaneously open to everyone, in real time, to see what is happening inside them. Unlike traditional banks and even many central business models in crypto, DeFi lending protocols don’t operate in a black box. That’s a pro. (Some would argue it’s a fundamental necessity for any business calling itself decentralized.) Decentralization isn’t a magic wand that protects you from dumb decisions. At the same time, it’s not totally obvious that letting everyone see exactly what’s happening in a lending protocol at any given moment is a good business model. Additionally, when the collateralized debt positions (CDPs) from stablecoin protocols like MakerDAO’s DAI are included, the total amount of credit provided on-chain by decentralized systems grows to over $35 billion. This in turn strengthens and further confirms the appearance of decentralized systems as the source of on-chain credit. CDP-backed stablecoins represent a growing demand for on-chain leverage and debt tools that do not rely on centralized intermediary institutions. These tools are especially popular among advanced users of DeFi (decentralized finance) and requesters of liquidity, such as DAOs (decentralized autonomous organizations). They favor them because they offer ways of obtaining liquid assets without the risk of having a counterparty who might become illiquid or insolvent. Transparency vs. Opacity: A Defining Divide One of the most stubborn differences between DeFi and CeFi is transparency. DeFi is inherently open, with data and smart contracts visible to all. CeFi, by contrast, is largely opaque. Much of the data available on CeFi lending is from voluntary disclosures, public filings, and court-supervised bankruptcy proceedings. Because of this, it’s very hard for anyone to get an accurate and up-to-date picture of risk and exposure. The crypto community has been asking for more transparency and better auditing standards from centralized platforms. The implosion of firms like Celsius, BlockFi, and Voyager this past year has only intensified this demand. Meanwhile, DeFi platforms are seen as much more resilient because their operations are open and transparent. If a DeFi platform is operating “under stress,” the community will likely know about it and be able to respond quickly. DeFi is fundamentally community-based and user-stabilized. The future of crypto lending is becoming more and more about decentralization. Risk transparency, programmatic enforcement, and composability have made DeFi the go-to architecture for retail and institutional users who want to access the crypto credit markets. These three elements are not just ideals within the DeFi space; they’re largely what render DeFi usable and reliable. By the end of 2025, CeFi will be an expired concept—it will be gone, while DeFi will exist, possibly with more users than now, and the number of crypto users in general will have grown as well. CeFi’s shriveling has been so rapid that it seems to be possibly history’s first business model that has been put into a coffin by a federal regulatory agency. 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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