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2025's Five Hottest DeFi Protocols

In a year with no shortage of crypto headlines, these protocols made an outsized impact.
2025's Five Hottest DeFi Protocols
Jack Inabinet Jack Inabinet
Dec 11, 2025 • 5 min read
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Crypto in 2025 wasn’t defined by calm cycles or predictable narratives.

Volatility hit fresh extremes, institutions piled in faster than anyone expected, and capital ricocheted across chains as new primitives emerged in real time. Amid that chaos, a distinct group of apps rose above the noise, fundamentally impacting the direction of DeFi.

Today, we’re illuminating the top five most influential DeFi protocols of 2025. 👇

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2025's Five Hottest DeFi Protocols
In The Article
Ethena Ethena Aave Aave Hyperliquid Hyperliquid Phantom Phantom MetaMask MetaMask Rabby Rabby Echo Echo Coinbase Coinbase Monad Monad MegaETH MegaETH Polymarket Polymarket Polygon Polygon Tether Tether Circle Circle
Jack Inabinet

Written by Jack Inabinet

925 Articles • View all      

Jack Inabinet is a Senior Analyst with a passion for exploring the bleeding edge of crypto and finance. Prior to joining Bankless, Jack worked as an analyst at HAL Real Estate where he conducted market research and financial analysis for commercial real estate development and acquisition activities in the Seattle region. He graduated from the University of Washington’s Michael G. Foster School of Business.

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