In March 2025, the cryptocurrency market is seeing a new phase of acceleration, with DeFi (Decentralized Finance) taking the spotlight. Driven by technological innovations, strategic updates, and increased adoption, select projects are standing out prominently.
DeFi, or Decentralized Finance, encompasses all financial applications built on public blockchains. These protocols allow borrowing, lending, trading, or earning returns without intermediaries, ensuring transparency.
In March 2025, the total market capitalization of the DeFi sector reached $90.3 billion, representing about 3.2% of the global crypto market. The 24-hour trading volume exceeded $5.59 billion, despite a slight -3.8% decrease in the last day.
This vitality demonstrates an ongoing interest from investors in this vertical, which remains one of the pillars of the Web3 ecosystem! We will now introduce you to 5 promising DeFi cryptos that are making waves in 2025.
Hyperliquid is making waves in early 2025 with a massive AirDrop and continues to attract traders with its ultra-fast perpetual trading platform. This decentralized perpetual trading platform is gaining attention for its fluidity, execution speed, and well-thought-out tokenomics.
A historical DeFi protocol, Aave strengthens itself with the development of Aave v4, bringing new cross-chain functionalities and a revamp of liquidations.
In 2025, Aave continues to dominate the decentralized lending and borrowing market, with over $17 billion of TVL. Recently, the protocol attracted attention with transactions related to Donald Trump and his family, who use the platform to manage funds in stablecoins.
With the rise of Real World Assets (RWA) tokenization on its platform, AAVE could play a key role in democratizing decentralized finance.
PancakeSwap remains one of the most popular DEXs, offering decentralized trading, yield farming, and a launchpad for new projects.
Despite a long bearish phase, the CAKE token rebounded strongly in March with a +45% increase over the week, driven by increased volumes on the BNB Chain.
Raydium is one of the leading DEXs (Decentralized Exchanges) in the Solana ecosystem. The platform offers deep liquidity and ultra-fast swaps through its integration with the Automated Market Maker (AMM) and Serum’s order book.
Its central role in the Solana DeFi universe makes it a key platform for trading and token liquidity on the blockchain.
In February 2025, Raydium (RAY) plummeted by 60% in the last month, dropping from $4.40 to $1.47. This decline was due to the announcement of Pump.fun, which plans to launch its own Automated Market Maker (AMM) on Solana.
However, a large part of Raydium’s volume comes from Pump.fun tokens, generating significant fees for the platform. This potential competition has worried investors, leading to selling pressure on the RAY token.
But Raydium has regained the spotlight recently with the announcement of LaunchLab, a token issuance platform for Solana, inspired by Pump.Fun. With this announcement, the RAY token surged by +10% over the week, retesting the $2 threshold.
Lido is the leader in liquid staking on Ethereum, allowing users to stake their ETH while maintaining liquidity through stETH.
Unlike traditional staking that locks funds, Lido offers a flexible alternative where users receive stETH in exchange for their staked ETH, usable on various DeFi protocols.
The platform continues to solidify its position as a leader in liquid staking, with over 30% of ETH staked on Ethereum, thus reinforcing its dominance in the market.
The recent V2 upgrade introduced a key feature: direct ETH withdrawal, offering stakers increased flexibility to access their funds.
Bitget is a reliable and accessible crypto platform that allows you to easily acquire DeFi cryptocurrencies. With competitive fees, an intuitive interface, and multiple payment options, Bitget stands out as one of the best exchanges to buy and trade assets related to decentralized finance.
Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced investor, buying DeFi tokens can be done in a few steps. Simply create an account, deposit funds in USDT or USDC via credit card or bank transfer, and place an order for the corresponding pair.
Once the transaction is confirmed, your tokens will be available in your Bitget wallet, ready to be traded or securely stored.
Here are the steps to buy DeFi tokens on the Bitget platform :
Tip : Dollar-Cost Averaging (DCA) is the recommended strategy for investing in DeFi, helping to reduce stress caused by market volatility.
DeFi Cryptos Gain Strength in 2025 with Key Projects Like Hyperliquid, Aave, PancakeSwap, Raydium, and Lido
The DeFi sector continues to grow in 2025, with innovative projects driving the space forward. The resurgence of activity on the BNB Chain, the rise of Solana, and Ethereum’s dominance in liquid staking confirm that DeFi is stronger than ever.
Beyond our Top 5, several DeFi cryptos are gaining attention in 2025. Jito (JTO) stands out on Solana with its liquid staking solutions, while Ethena (ENA) introduces a synthetic stablecoin backed by the derivatives market. MakerDAO (MKR) remains a leader with DAI, and Jupiter (JUP) solidifies its position in the Solana ecosystem with record-breaking DEX volumes.
These DeFi projects demonstrate increasing maturity, offering solid, useful, and well-integrated solutions. Despite market volatility, DeFi remains a key focus for mid- and long-term investors. Stay informed, choose strong projects, and adapt your investment strategy wisely!
Thomas holds a BTS in computer science with a specialization in SEO and is certified in web writing and e-commerce. Passionate about blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies since 2018, he specializes in analyzing crypto market cycles. His journey into GPU mining began in 2019 with ETH before transitioning to KASPA and Alephium (ALPH).
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