International DeFi Outlook: Growth or Slowdown?

DeFi is evolving unevenly across regions. In some countries, it has become part of everyday financial activity; in others, it faces tighter regulatory constraints or is moving into  more controlled frameworks. To assess whether the market is expanding or entering a period of consolidation, it is necessary to examine regional developments and underlying data. Below is a snapshot of how the global DeFi landscape currently stands.

LATAM

Argentina

In economically unstable environments, DeFi often functions as a financial coping mechanism. In Argentina, traditional savings and long-term investment frameworks have been weakened by persistent currency volatility and inflation. According to OKX's market data, nearly one in five Argentines — around 19.8 % of the population — own or use cryptocurrency, placing the country among the leading adopters in Latin America.

In this context, DeFi is closely tied to capital preservation and access to dollar-denominated instruments. Stablecoins such as USDT and USDC are used for savings, transfers, and liquidity management outside the domestic currency system, rather than for yield and speculation.

Brazil

Brazil presents a contrasting model. The country does not face hyperinflation, but it has developed one of the region’s most advanced fintech and digital payments ecosystems. Here, DeFi adoption is driven primarily by efficiency rather than necessity. Crypto and DeFi tools are integrated into payment, remittance, and treasury workflows to reduce transaction costs, manage currency exposure, and improve settlement speed. Licensing frameworks and clearer regulatory guidance have also made DeFi-related activity more accessible for businesses and service providers, reinforcing its role as a complementary layer to the traditional financial system rather than an emergency alternative.

MENA

Turkey

In Turkey, economic stress has coincided with rapid digital asset adoption. According to Chainalysis’ industry reporting, crypto transaction volumes reached approximately $200 billion in 2025, reflecting strong retail participation amid currency depreciation.At the same time, the regulatory environment has begun to formalize and investment into the domestic crypto sector rose to roughly $2.5 billion, with local discussions underway around the potential listing of a Bitcoin ETF.

This combination of social demand and improving market infrastructure has created conditions where DeFi tools are increasingly used not only for trading, but also for savings, transfers, and alternative access to financial services.

UAE

The UAE is positioning itself as a regional crypto hub, where DeFi growth is driven by planned infrastructure development rather than economic stress. DeFi activity in the country is closely linked to large-scale financial use cases, including asset tokenization, settlement, and cross-border payments, with total digital asset transaction volumes exceeding $34 billion.

Within this framework, DeFi is positioned as an extension of broader financial modernization efforts, focused on settlement efficiency, tokenization, and regulated institutional use rather than retail necessity.

GLOBAL WEST

Europe

In Europe, DeFi adoption is increasingly shaped by integration with established financial systems under the MiCA framework. Total value locked (TVL) in European DeFi protocols has reached approximately €45 billion, reflecting steady participation from users and institutions alike. Growth has moderated by 12% year over year, but activity continues to expand.

DeFi in Europe is gradually evolving into a more structured market segment and use cases are centered on compliant lending, asset management, and infrastructure services, with innovation progressing at a measured pace as decentralized finance becomes part of the broader financial landscape.

United States

The United States remains the largest DeFi market by scale and depth. Total value locked typically ranges between $150 billion and $200 billion, with a growing share allocated to tokenized real-world assets, including government securities, credit products, and on-chain funds.

At the same time, crypto exposure has increasingly moved into traditional market vehicles. The rise of spot Bitcoin ETFs and publicly listed companies holding digital assets on their balance sheets has brought crypto deeper into the legacy financial system, expanding institutional participation beyond native blockchain platforms.

Alongside this integration, the size and liquidity of the U.S. market continue to make it a testing ground for new crypto and DeFi models. High demand from both retail and institutional participants allows protocols to scale quickly, experiment with new financial structures, and attract capital at levels difficult to replicate elsewhere.

ASIA

India and Vietnam

In parts of Asia, DeFi growth is driven by scale and accessibility rather than institutional integration. India stands out for its volume of peer-to-peer crypto activity, with over 20 million active DeFi users and supported by widespread mobile adoption and rapid digitalization. Smartphones remain the primary access point to the internet for much of the population, making mobile-first DeFi applications central to everyday financial use, including transfers, savings, and on-chain lending.

Vietnam follows a similar pattern, but with faster uptake of DeFi-native products, as volumes have increased by more than 160 percent over the past year. Decentralized exchanges and yield-focused protocols have seen strong usage growth, reflecting an environment where DeFi is treated as a natural extension of the fintech ecosystem. In this context, decentralized finance supports micro-lending, short-term liquidity management, and everyday transfers, rather than serving as a niche or speculative activity.

AFRICA

Nigeria

With nearly 40 percent of the population unbanked, Nigeria has become one of the strongest examples of stablecoins and DeFi filling gaps left by traditional financial infrastructure. Digital assets are widely used for everyday financial activity, particularly in retail transactions and peer-to-peer payments.

Nigeria ranks among the world’s largest crypto markets by transaction volume, with total on-chain activity reaching approximately $59 billion, a significant share of which is driven by peer-to-peer transfers. Stablecoins play a central role, accounting for a large portion of retail crypto usage as consumers and small businesses rely on dollar-denominated tokens for payments, savings, and liquidity management. 

DeFi and stablecoins function less as speculative tools and more as practical financial infrastructure embedded in daily economic life.

CENTRAL ASIA

Kyrgyzstan

DeFi is expanding in Kyrgyzstan. During the first seven months of 2025, total crypto market volume exceeded $11 billion, nearly doubling year over year. This growth has occurred alongside the adoption of the Law on Virtual Assets, which established a formal legal framework for digital finance development.

One element of the emerging infrastructure is USDKG, a state-backed stablecoin launched in November 2025. The token is pegged 1:1 to the U.S. dollar and backed by physical gold reserves. An initial issuanceof50 million tokens took place on the Ethereum network, with reserves verification conducted through a public audit as part of the supervisory framework.

Within this context, USDKG (Gold Dollar) is positioned primarily for international settlement and cross-border transfers, reflecting a broader focus on trade-related and institutional use cases rather than retail experimentation. The design combines a dollar-denominated unit with commodity-backed reserves and public blockchain settlement.

It is important to distinguish this initiative from a central bank digital currency (CBDC). USDKG (Gold Dollar) operates outside the CBDC framework, while parallel discussions around a potential digital som represent a separate track of financial system modernization.

Taken together, these developments illustrate how Kyrgyzstan is approaching DeFi and stablecoins through a sovereign-aligned and legally defined model. As with other emerging jurisdictions, the long-term trajectory will depend on regulatory execution and sustained market participation.

Overall Picture

Across regions, a consistent pattern emerges. In environments marked by inflation and limited banking access, DeFi serves as a practical tool for daily financial activity. In developed markets, it increasingly integrates into institutional and capital-market infrastructure. Where regulatory constraints dominate, adoption progresses more slowly.

Viewed through this lens, the global DeFi market is neither uniformly accelerating nor broadly slowing down. Instead, it is evolving unevenly, expanding where it addresses concrete economic needs and consolidating where structural or regulatory limits apply. DeFi’s trajectory is shaped less by ideology than by function, with regional realities determining whether growth continues, moderates, or takes new forms.