defi

According to statistics from the Web3 asset data platform RootData, the total amount in the crypto primary market in March 2026 was approximately $2.58 billion, a significant increase of 286.3% compared to $644 million in February. DeFi, CeFi, and infrastructure were the top three sectors in terms of financing amounts, with $1.655 billion, $320 million, and $270 million, respectively. A total of 62 project financing events were disclosed this month, nearly the same as last month.Additionally, the top three projects by financing amount were the on-chain prediction market Kalshi ($1 billion), the decentralized prediction platform Polymarket ($600 million), and the listed mining company [Eightco Holdings](https://www.rootdata.com/zh/Projects/detail/Eightco Holdings, Inc.?k=MzUyMg== "blockchain technology company (NASDAQ: OCTO)") ($125 million). Both Kalshi and Polymarket belong to the prediction market sector, with a total financing of $1.6 billion, accounting for 64.3% of the total disclosed amount for the month, making the prediction market the strongest single narrative this month.It is worth noting that if the 12 merger and acquisition events that occurred this month (involving an amount of approximately $1.857 billion, primarily the acquisition of BVNK by Mastercard for $1.8 billion) are included in the statistics, the total broad financing amount in the crypto market for March would reach approximately $4.279 billion, with mergers and acquisitions contributing over 40%. The trend of traditional institutions accelerating the integration of the crypto sector was particularly prominent this month.In addition, [Coinbase Ventures](https://www.rootdata.com/zh/Investors/detail/Coinbase Ventures?k=MjE5)、[Animoca Brands](https://www.rootdata.com/zh/Projects/detail/Animoca Brands?k=MzgzOA== "Web3 game development and venture capital company")、[Big Brain Holdings](https://www.rootdata.com/zh/Investors/detail/Big Brain Holdings?k=MjU2) were tied as the most active investors in March, each disclosing 4 investments.According to the RootData data co-construction plan, there were still some financing events this month whose amounts could not be included in the statistics. The payment sector project Tazapay completed its Series B1 financing, and the infrastructure project Pharos Network also disclosed that it received financing, but neither disclosed specific financing amounts, with data for Pharos Network temporarily marked as questionable and pending verification.

According to official news, the latest weekly report from JustLend DAO, a leading decentralized lending protocol on the TRON blockchain, shows that the total locked value on the platform has reached 6.55 billion USD, with total deposits amounting to 3.53 billion USD. As a core DeFi infrastructure of the TRON ecosystem, JustLend DAO is demonstrating the vibrant vitality of the DeFi market with strong data, providing efficient on-chain lending services for global users.

According to CoinDesk, Aave has officially launched the v4 upgrade version on Ethereum after about two years of development, introducing a new architecture that separates the lending markets while sharing liquidity, aiming to expand DeFi from crypto-native lending to real-world assets and institutional use cases.The v4 version changes the way Aave organizes its markets, allowing different types of lending markets to operate independently while sharing the same liquidity pool, enabling users to conduct lending operations on assets beyond crypto tokens in the future. Aave Labs founder Stani Kulechov stated that lending is based on trust and needs to reflect market conditions. He also pointed out that this upgrade facilitates other teams to develop and expand on top of the protocol.In terms of capital efficiency, the v4 version can also reinvest idle funds within the system. The upgrade launched with a limited set of markets and conservative parameter settings, with more features to be added gradually following governance resolutions. This launch coincides with governance disputes within the Aave ecosystem regarding decentralization and revenue distribution issues.

According to independent analyst Markus Thielen, Ethereum has broken through a key technical support level and is currently showing a bearish flag pattern, with prices touching around $2004. This pattern is highly similar to this year's trend, and caution is advised as this pattern may reoccur.On the funding side, market trading volume remains sluggish, with insufficient participation willingness. Ethereum ETFs have continued to see net outflows since last year, with no recent improvement. On the fundamental side, the new cycle of DeFi has not yet started, and there are no obvious signs of recovery in on-chain activity. Recently, the minting volume of USDC has significantly slowed down and turned into net outflows. The improvement in liquidity within the ecosystem is still not stable, and structural demand support remains limited.

DeFi research and risk management company Gauntlet updated on the X platform regarding the progress of the Resolv vulnerability handling. Currently, the USDC Frontier (v1) on the Base network has been removed from all Resolv markets, with no bad debt risk.The v1 and v2 vaults have now reopened for deposits, and Morpho will remove the interface warning tomorrow. The mainnet USDC Frontier (v2) vault restart operation is underway. Based on the existing time lock arrangements, the submission limit for the v1 market adapter is 3 days, and the removal of the v1 Vault adapter is 5 days. Gauntlet stated that further details on the remaining vaults will be provided based on subsequent updates from Resolv.

DeFi research and risk management company Gauntlet posted an update on the X platform regarding the progress of the Resolv vulnerability handling. The USDC Frontier (v1) on the Base network has been removed from all Resolv markets, with no bad debt risk.The v1 and v2 vaults are now reopened for deposits, and Morpho will remove the interface warning tomorrow. The restart operation for the mainnet USDC Frontier (v2) vault is underway. Based on the existing time lock arrangements, the submission limit for the v1 market adapter is 3 days, and the removal of the v1 Vault adapter is 5 days. Gauntlet stated that further details about the remaining vaults will be provided based on subsequent fixes from Resolv.

U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis stated that the CLARITY Act, after its latest revision, will provide "the strongest protection" for DeFi and developers. This response addresses concerns raised by crypto lawyer Jake Chervinsky regarding the developer liability provisions in the draft, noting that bipartisan adjustments have been made to strengthen legal protections for non-custodial software developers.However, Chervinsky pointed out that the current draft's definition of funds transfer may still expose some DeFi developers to liability risks, as the relevant provisions have not been fully clarified. Reports indicate that the latest revised version of the bill has not yet been made public and is expected to advance to the Senate Banking Committee for review in April.

According to Forbes, Plume's legal advisor B. Salman Banaei testified before Congress, strongly urging the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to expedite the development of tokenization rules while advancing the full ATS (Alternative Trading System) registration for DeFi protocols, rather than relying solely on "innovation exemptions."Banaei criticized the SEC for "putting all its eggs in one basket with innovation exemptions," calling this approach "foolish," and warned that setting volume and product limitations would fail to attract large institutions, "because they will not invest resources in an infrastructure that may not exist in two or three years." He also suggested that the SEC seek feedback on the current incompatibilities in the rules and develop permanent solutions.Plume was approved by the SEC in October 2025 to become a registered transfer agent, capable of handling shareholder records, transfers, and dividends for on-chain tokenized securities, and is currently awaiting a FINRA broker-dealer license. Banaei pointed out that there are only 10 months left in the current SEC leadership window, and action must be taken quickly to promote the development of real-world asset (RWA) tokenization.

On March 26, the European Central Bank published a working paper studying the governance concentration of four major DeFi protocols: Aave, MakerDAO, Ampleforth, and Uniswap.The paper, based on holding snapshot data from November 2022 and May 2023, found that although governance tokens are distributed across tens of thousands of addresses, the top 100 holders in each protocol control over 80% of the supply, and a large number of governance tokens can be linked to the protocols themselves or centralized and decentralized exchanges, with Binance being the largest identified centralized exchange holder among the four protocols.In terms of voting participation, the paper noted that actual voters are mainly representatives who obtain proxy voting rights from small holders. The top 20 voters in Ampleforth control 96% of the proxy voting rights, the top 10 voters in MakerDAO hold 66%, and the top 18 voters in Uniswap hold 52%. About one-third of the main voters cannot be publicly identified.The paper argues that these findings challenge the assumption of inherent decentralization in DAOs, making it more difficult to determine regulatory anchors under the EU MiCA framework. MiCA currently excludes "fully decentralized" services from its scope. The paper also points out that it is impossible to determine from public data whether the holdings associated with the protocols belong to founders, developers, or treasuries, nor can it be determined whether exchange wallets are voting on behalf of themselves or their clients. The paper represents the authors' views and does not represent the official position of the European Central Bank.

According to a report by Cointelegraph, a staff paper from the European Central Bank points out that the governance tokens of DeFi protocols are highly centralized, with about half or more of the holdings of governance tokens for Aave, MakerDAO, Ampleforth, and Uniswap related to the protocol itself or exchanges.The main voting participants are mostly delegated representatives, and in many cases, these representatives cannot be identified or associated with the token holders. The study questions whether DeFi DAOs have sufficient decentralization to be excluded from the MiCA regulatory framework and provides a reference for policymakers to include relevant entities in regulation.

According to official news, the Hyperliquid ecosystem RWA DeFi protocol Felix has launched tokenized stock and ETF trading.The protocol has partnered with Ondo Finance to build spot infrastructure, with over 250 assets now available, and manages perpetual markets for commodities like silver, oil, and copper through the HIP-3 mechanism. It is reported that Felix focuses on providing on-chain users with tokenized U.S. stock, ETF, and commodity perpetual contract trading, supporting 24/7 market access and low execution costs.

According to Dailycoin, DefiLlama data shows that among approximately 1,300 DeFi projects, as much as 97.6% of the projects failed to generate significant revenue, and the income distribution exhibits a clear power-law pattern.Among them, stablecoin issuers and trading platforms dominate the leaderboard, with Tether at $490 million, Circle at $201 million, and Hyperliquid at $61 million.In addition, only six protocols had revenues between $10 million and $50 million. In the past 30 days, only 32 projects (accounting for just 2.4% of the total) had revenues exceeding $2 million; the biggest losses were incurred by the MEV protocol Kairos Timeboost (loss of about $200,000) and the options platform Hegic (loss of about $23,000).