Gate Decentralized Finance Daily ( September 15, ): DeFi maintains a scale of $163 billion; WLFI buyback and destruction proposal support rate nearly 100%.

On September 15, the DeFi market remained at a level of 163 billion USD, with TVL slightly pulling back but still holding above 160 billion USD. DEX volume significantly rose, and the Solana ecosystem continued to lead, with Meteora and Pump becoming representative projects with active trading. Meanwhile, the support rate for the WLFI repurchase and destruction proposal approached unanimous approval, and the Nemo Protocol announced a compensation plan, with market attention focused on protocol security and long-term value mechanisms. As the crypto market overall pulled back, DeFi zone tokens also declined in sync.

Decentralized Finance Market Overview

(Source: DeFiLlama)

Total DeFi TVL across the network: holding above 160 billion USD, currently at 163.071 billion USD, with a slight decrease of 0.11% in 24H.

DEX 24-hour volume: approximately $15.567 billion, a rise of 12.6% compared to the past week, with the top three being: Uniswap ($2.897 billion), PancakeSwap ($2.155 billion), Hyperliquid ($1.478 billion).

Popular Protocols and On-Chain Performance

Based on TVL, the data of the top ten DeFi protocols is as follows:

(Source: DeFiLlama)

Among them, the top-ranked protocol data performance are as follows:

Aave: TVL approximately 42.449 billion USD, rise of 6.27% in the past week, with 24-hour volume around 3.27 million USD;

Lido: TVL approximately $40.062 billion, an increase of 7.28% over the past week, with 24-hour fees of about $3.13 million;

EigenLayer: TVL approximately $19.879 billion, a rise of 5.73% over the past week;

Ethena: TVL approximately 13.751 billion USD, a rise of 6.08% over the past week, with fees around 150,000 USD in the last 24 hours;

Pendle: TVL approximately 12.745 billion USD, with a rise of 10.71% over the past week.

Project News Review

1. According to data, since Pumpfun started repurchasing PUMP tokens on July 15, it has repurchased PUMP tokens worth approximately 94.5 million USD, reducing the total circulating supply by 6.578%.

2. The Sui ecosystem DeFi protocol Nemo Protocol, which suffered an attack on September 8 resulting in losses of approximately 2.4 million USD, announced the launch of a compensation plan, which will distribute debt tokens NEOM to affected users. The compensation plan will be based on an on-chain snapshot taken at the time of the protocol's suspension, calculating user losses in USD and issuing an equivalent amount of NEOM tokens. Holders can choose to exit through an automated market maker pool or hold the tokens while awaiting fund recovery.

3. Native Markets wins the Hyperliquid stablecoin USDH bidding and has been granted the use of the USDH token on Hyperliquid. Members of the Native Markets team stated, "We will deploy USDH HIP-1 and the corresponding ERC-20 within a few days."

Then the testing phase will begin: the initial group can conduct minting and redemption tests of up to a maximum of 800 USD per transaction, and then the USDH/USDC spot order book will be opened, along with unlimited minting and redemption.

4. Crypto KOL Ansem stated, "One of the weaknesses of Solana compared to Ethereum is the activity level of DeFi. If people like Multicoin co-founder Kyle Samani can invest the funds from these SOL treasury (DAT) into DeFi protocols, it would be very bullish. I hope to see other tokens in the Solana ecosystem, aside from meme coins, perform well as well. There are many excellent teams that already have tokens, and PUMP is a good sign."

Placeholder VC partner Chris Burniske agrees with Ansem's view, pointing out that the SOL digital asset treasury (DAT) will boost the ecosystem and create returns unmatched by ETFs.

5. World Liberty Financial previously proposed to use all fees generated from the Protocol Owned Liquidity (POL) of WLFI for open market repurchase of WLFI and implement permanent destruction. Currently, the support rate is 99.72%, the abstention rate is 0.2%, and the opposition rate is 0.07%. Voting will end at 3:27 AM on September 19, 2025.

"Self-owned liquidity" refers to the fees generated solely from the liquidity controlled by WLFI, unaffected by fees from community and third-party liquidity providers (LPs). In simple terms, it means that WLFI officially collects fees generated from its self-owned liquidity positions on chains like Ethereum and Solana, and these fees are used to repurchase WLFI Tokens in the market. The repurchased Tokens are transferred to a burn address, achieving a permanent reduction in supply.

The official stated that if this proposal is passed, WLFI will use this as the basis for its ongoing buyback and burn strategy. As the ecosystem develops, we will explore incorporating revenue sources from other protocols into this plan, gradually expanding the scale of WLFI buybacks and burns.

Overview of Major Ecological Leading DeFi Projects

Solana DEX has consistently held the top position in 24-hour trading volume for several days, approximately 4.969 billion USD, with the top three projects being:

Meteora ($1.083 billion), HumidiFi ($945.12 million), Pump ($830.52 million);

Ethereum DEX ranks second in 24-hour trading volume, at approximately $2.409 billion, with the top three projects being:

Uniswap ($1.324 billion), Fluid ($489.6 million), Curve Finance ($314.4 million);

Hyperliquid L1 DEX 24-hour volume ranks in the top four, approximately $1.744 billion, with the top three projects being:

Hyperliquid ($1.478 billion), Project X ($119.62 million), Hybra ($28.54 million).

Gate DeFi zone Token market data

According to the data from the Gate market page, the price performance of the top ten Tokens in the DeFi zone is as follows:

(Source: Gate DeFi Sector Quotes)

As of September 15th, the crypto market has overall pulled back, with the DeFi zone also declining. Specifically:

UNI is currently reported at 9.26 USD, with a 24-hour drop of 4.34%;

WLFI is currently reported at 0.2097 USD, with a 24-hour decline of 7.7%;

AAVE is currently reported at 304 USD, with a 24-hour decline of 2.08%;

MYX is currently reported at 10.36 USD, with a 24-hour pullback of 6.14%;

INJ is currently at 13.82 USD, with a 24-hour pullback of 2.99%;

CRV is currently at 0.7792 USD, with a 24-hour decline of 4.27%;

MORPHO is currently priced at 2 USD, with a 24-hour decline of 3.13%.

Market Trend Interpretation

TVL holds above 160 billion USD, volume rises week on week

The total DeFi TVL across the network reports 163.071 billion USD, with a slight decrease of 0.11% in 24 hours, but the DEX volume reached 15.567 billion USD, an increase of 12.6% compared to last week. This indicates that although the overall capital size is stabilizing, the on-chain trading activity has increased.

Solana DEX volume continues to lead, Meteora ranks first

Solana DEX daily volume reached $4.969 billion, continuing to hold above all public chains. Among them, Meteora, HumidiFi, and Pump dominate, recording trading volumes of $1.083 billion, $945 million, and $831 million respectively. The activity of funds towards emerging applications and Tokens is significantly higher than that of traditional blue-chip protocols.

WLFI buyback and burn mechanism gains widespread support

The WLFI buyback and burn proposal currently has a support rate of 99.72%. If formally approved, it will become an important support for the long-term value narrative of the protocol. Although the price has dropped 7.7% in the short term, market expectations remain focused on the future implementation strength and actual effects.

Leading protocols are steadily expanding, Pendle has seen a significant rise

Aave and Lido's TVL broke through 42.4 billion and 40 billion USD, with a weekly increase of over 6% each; Pendle's weekly TVL grew by 10.71%, indicating that the funds' activity in the fixed income sector continues to strengthen.

Analyst's View

Meteora and Pump drive the activity of the Solana ecosystem

Analysts believe that Solana DEX's trading volume has remained at the top for several days, reflecting a high level of attention from funds towards on-chain native projects. The trading performance of Meteora and Pump indicates that community-driven efforts and Token incentives are still the core driving forces behind liquidity.

WLFI Buyback and Burn Narrative Strengthens Long-term Logic

Institutional researchers pointed out that the high support rate for the WLFI buyback and burn mechanism proves the community's recognition of the scarcity narrative. However, under the current market volatility, short-term price trends are still constrained by overall risk appetite, and long-term value needs to wait for the implementation of the mechanism.

Security incidents prompt investors to follow governance and compliance

The compensation plan after the Nemo Protocol attack shows that the project team is attempting to restore user trust through debt tokens. Analysts remind that the security governance and emergency mechanisms of DeFi protocols are gradually becoming core elements of capital assessment.

The ability to attract funds in the fixed income and re-staking sectors has strengthened

Pendle's high growth rate and Ethena's steady performance show that the fixed income and protocol revenue sector is becoming a key allocation direction for funds. Analysts believe that the growth logic of such protocols aligns better with institutional needs and is expected to further drive the differentiation of the Decentralized Finance market.