# Crypto-Collateralized Lending Drops $11.33 Billion in Q2 as DeFi Falls 28%

By Enna Lee

Canonical URL: https://www.tokenpost.com/news/investing/37319
Published: 2026-10-22T02:09:17.000Z
Updated: 2026-10-22T02:09:17.000Z
Section: Investing

> CeFi loans ended June at $22.98 billion, moving above DeFi lending-app balances for the first time since Q3 2023.

Crypto-collateralized lending stood at $56.16 billion at Q2's end, as DeFi lending-app balances fell nearly three times as fast as CeFi loans, leaving CeFi ahead for the first time since Q3 2023.

Compared with Q1, the total was $11.33 billion lower, a 16.78% decline. The total was $22.53 billion below the $78.69 billion high recorded in Q3 2025.

By June 30, the CeFi segment held $22.98 billion in loans, a quarterly decrease of 9.62%. The DeFi-app balance was $20.43 billion after a 27.61% reduction. Their declines differed by 17.99 percentage points, and CeFi finished $2.55 billion above DeFi.

The total covers more than CeFi loans and lending-app balances. It includes the share of stablecoins issued through collateralized debt positions (CDPs) that is backed by crypto. Some CeFi loans may overlap with onchain borrowing or CDP issuance, so the categories can count related activity in more than one place. Private-lender figures used in the estimate had not been formally vetted.

Across the three most recent quarters, contractions measured 10%, 5% and 17%. During Q2 2022, the market's one-quarter decline exceeded 55%. The recent sequence was less steep than that earlier drop.

A stablecoin rate snapshot taken at 10 p.m. ET Oct. 21 (02:00 UTC Oct. 22) showed a market-size-weighted borrowing APY of 4.66% and supply APY of 3.58% across major stablecoins in large EVM lending markets. The difference was 1.08 percentage points, and the rates excluded rewards. USD Coin (USDC) borrowing was 5.04% APY, while Tether (USDT) borrowing was 4.17% APY. The weighted averages summarize the selected markets; the token-specific figures show different borrowing rates within that snapshot.

Total value locked (TVL) counts assets held in protocol smart contracts. Active-loan figures count borrowing issued and are excluded from TVL by default. The measures describe different parts of lending activity: one tracks assets deposited in protocols, while the other tracks credit extended to borrowers.