According to New in the second quarter of 2025, the loan activity in crypto markets accelerated in the second quarter of 2025 figures from Galaxy Research.
The study showed that loans supported by digital assets in Defi protocols climbed to a record of $ 26.47 billion, an increase of 42.1% compared to the previous quarter.
That increase increased the general balance of crypto-collateralized loans, including both Defi- and Centralized Finance (CEFI) platforms, to $ 44.25 billion at the end of June.
The increase of $ 10.12 billion quarter-over quartaal is one of the biggest jumps since the bull-market years at the end of 2021 and early 2022, when outstanding loans had briefly $ 50 billion.
The report linked the recovery to a combination of rising crypto prices and a stronger demand for leverage.
Traders often use crypto loans to secure cash without selling their possession, and with Bitcoin and Ethereum who recently break beyond previous all-time highlights, more participants seem willing to lock up assets to record liquidity.
Tether dominates Cefi -Loingen
Galaxy Research reported that Open Cefi Loans on 30 June was $ 17.78 billion, which marked an increase of 14.66% compared to the previous quarter. Compared to the low bear market of $ 7.18 billion in Q4 2023, the sector has grown by 147.5%.
Stablecoin-Emittent Tether maintained his long-term dominance and checked more than half of the CEFI credit market. The company closed the quarter with $ 10.14 billion in open loans, which translated into a share of 57.02%.
Nexo followed with $ 1.96 billion, while the lending unit of Galaxy $ 1.11 billion reported. Together, the top three lenders accounted for 74.26% of the market.
This marks Tether’s 12th consecutive quarter of sector leadership, a position that Stold after the collapse of Genesis, Celsius, Silvergate, Blockfi and Voyager in 2022.
Those failures, caused by poor risk management and unrest on the market, paved the way for Tether to climb from less than 20% in mid -2021 to almost 70% by the end of 2022.
Although his dominance has somewhat decreased compared to those levels, Galaxy admitted the shift to several factors.
According to the company, rising asset prices have created a reflexive cycle in borrowing demand, while company treasures are increasingly turning to CEFI lenders as a source of financing.
Moreover, the competition between lenders is also intensified, which means that more attractive loan percentages are sent on the market.
The report suggests that these forces can continue to reform power relationships in crypto loans, even if Tether remains the undisputed leader in the sector.