Curve Finance Users are Locking Record Amounts of CRV Tokens in the DEX

Curve Finance users are locking in more CRV tokens in the decentralized exchange than ever before.

Curve Finance drew in 51 million CRV tokens, or $14.7 million into the protocol, in the seven days ending July 8, according to crvhub.com, which tracks the data. The past week’s inflows bring the total deposited to 796 million CRV, or $230 million according to Dune.

The figure is significant because it more than doubles the previous all-time high of 24 million CRV locked in October 2022 of Also, the rate of lockup is 100 times more than the previous periods, meaning a potential renewed intensity in protocols bidding to exert more influence over Curve, said Michael Egorov, founder of Curve Finance. 

Egorov said the data suggests investors are increasingly focused on the importance of governance and fee distribution. This could prove to be a “tectonic shift” in users’ overall attitude in an ecosystem overly focused on financial gains, Egorov said.

Aside from the upswing in locked tokens, Curve also had its best week in terms of fee revenue since April 2024. Last week the protocol’s fee revenue surged to $951,000, up from $548,000 the previous seven days.

Egorov explained that by locking CRV tokens to obtain veCRV, users get the ability to earn fees in the Curve system and gain voting rights for platform governance. However, users must commit to a lock period of up to four years to boost their voting power and earning potential to their maximum.

TVL Lags

Still, surging locked CRV tokens has not led to an increase in TVL.

According to DefiLlama, Curve’s TVL lands on $2 billion, up from $1.8 billion at the onset of 2024, but at more than half of last year’s $4.3 billion peak.

However, that still lands it in second place among all decentralized exchanges on DefiLlama, trailing only Uniswap. The fact that Curve has been seeing an overarching downtrend while maintaining second place for DEXs might be more of an indictment to the sector than the protocol itself. TVL for all DEXs is at $18 billion, up 80% from its 2023 $10 billion bottom.

The near-vertical ascent in CRV lockups has not spilled over into the financials of the protocol either.

Curve Finance’s market capitalization sits at $346 million, the lowest it’s been since December 2022, according to CoinGecko. The token recently touched its all-time low amid a widespread crypto sell off. CRV hit its record bottom on July 4 when it traded for $0.22 on July 4, but has since jumped 33% and now changes hands for $0.29. It is down 98% from its all-time high of $15 from Dec. 2020.

Nevertheless, according to the Curve Finance team, the spike in CRV locks might indicate a renewed intensity in the protocol competition that was nicknamed “Curve Wars” back in 2021, where various protocols tried to lock more CRV tokens to gain greater influence and rewards within the Curve Finance ecosystem.