Sinking TRON takes DeFi TVL to US$63B, lowest since April 2021

The total value locked (TVL) in decentralized finance (DeFi) fell to US$63.12 billion as prices across the broad crypto market fell. The declines were highlighted by the TRON algorithmic stablecoin USDD losing parity with the U.S. dollar on Monday, along with a 17% drop in the TRON native token TRX over the past 24 hours. 

See related article: Terra inspires Tron to pursue US$10B in crypto-backed stablecoin

Fast facts

• Tron founder Justin Sun tweeted that short-sellers are betting against the digital currency and that the Tron DAO reserve deployed US$2.5 billion in total overnight to defend the USDD peg to the dollar. 

• Tron DeFi TVL has dwindled to US$4.53 billion, while the larger DeFi market TVL has sunk to the lowest level since April 2021, according to DefiLlama data.

• USDD is still trading below its peg at US$0.98 at the time of writing, CoinGecko data shows. 

• The USDD’s loss of parity with the U.S. currency is raising concerns the market could face a repeat of what happened last month when the Terra algorithmic stablecoin lost its peg with the U.S. dollar and eventually collapsed, bringing down the US$40 billion Terra system. 

See related article: Will the glare of Justin Sun blind the public to TRON 4.0?