# Total value locked Methodology

## Overview

Total value locked (TVL) measures the total value of a project's on-chain deposits and/or the tokenized value of user deposits made offchain. It is used as a leading indicator for revenue-generating activity, such as borrowing, trading, or staking, though the assets can typically be withdrawn by depositors at any time.

## Data sources

- Smart contract events and program instructions representing deposit and withdrawal activity
- Blockchain state data including collateral balances and validator information
- Token price feeds for USD conversion
- Asset metadata for decimal precision

## Common calculation approaches

### Supply-based calculation
For stablecoin issuers, TVL is calculated from the total circulating supply of issued tokens. `Mint` and `Burn` events are tracked from issuers such as Tether and Circle on EVM chains, while program instructions are tracked on Solana to arrive at the aggregate value of assets in circulation.

### Deposit and loan aggregation
In lending protocols, TVL is calculated by summing idle liquidity and active loan balances. Collateral balances and debt positions are aggregated from smart contract states and events—for example, from Aave and Sky—to represent the total capital committed to the platform.

### Staking and restaking valuation
For liquid staking platforms, the value of all locked assets is aggregated from protocol contracts and consensus layer data. Total pooled assets are tracked from Lido Finance through `PostTotalShares` events from `Lido Oracle` contracts and `TokenRebased` events from `stETH` contracts to arrive at the total value of staked collateral.

**Note:** The calculation approaches and protocol examples above are representative patterns. Individual protocol implementations may vary.

*This methodology was automatically generated by Token Terminal's methodology analyzer.*

Total value locked (TVL)

Total value locked (TVL) — value deposited into the project's applications.

Total value locked

Lending

Liquidity providers deposit funds into Curve and receive trading fees from traders (supply-side fees).

Curve is a non-custodial exchange protocol built originally on Ethereum. Curve was founded by Michael Egorov and launched in 2020.

CRV tokenholders own and govern the protocol. They currently take a cut of the total trading fees paid by traders (revenue). 

LlamaLend

Total value locked

Total value locked

Chain breakdown