Despite a broader downturn in the crypto market, decentralized finance (DeFi) lending has demonstrated significant recovery. Cointelegraph reports that the total size of the crypto lending market decreased from its peak of $64.4 billion in 2021 to just $36.5 billion by the end of 2024, representing a decline of over 43%. This decrease is primarily attributed to the collapse of several centralized finance (CeFi) lenders like Genesis, Celsius Network, BlockFi, and Voyager. These bankruptcies caused a dramatic 78% reduction in lending market size, with open borrows dropping by 82%. However, DeFi lending has shown remarkable resilience, seeing its open borrows increase nearly tenfold from the bear market low of $1.8 billion in Q4 2022 to $19.1 billion by year-end 2024. This surge represents a 959% jump over eight quarters, highlighting DeFi platforms’ ability to withstand market chaos and operate independently.