Overview of new DeFi protocols

Babylon

The Babylon protocol is the leading DeFi platform among the new ones regarding total value locked (TVL). By this metric, it ranks among the top ten protocols in the decentralized finance market, just behind Spark and Ether.fi.

The Babylon protocol was launched in August 2024, and as of April 2025, its TVL is nearly $4 billion. Babylon is a liquid-stacking protocol for native Bitcoin (BTC) cryptocurrency created based on the Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism.

In April 2025, the project's developers launched the first decentralized Babylon Genesis decentralized core network secured by bitcoins (Bitcoin Secured Network or BSN) using Cosmos SDK tools.

In the same month, the Babylon team released and listed its own token, BABY, on exchanges. The BABY token has already ranked 172nd in market capitalization, which is $204 million. With a circulating supply of 2.29 billion BABYs, the token's value reaches $0.088. The BABY token manages the Babylon ecosystem, stealth rewards, and transaction fees on the leading Babylon Genesis network.

BlackRock BUIDL

BlackRock, the largest investment company in the world and manager of more than $10 trillion in assets, has firmly established itself in the DeFi market by introducing the first private tokenized fund on blockchain, BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL).

The BUIDL fund is designed for institutional investors, with a minimum investment of $5 million for entry. The BlackRock BUIDL fund is focused on the real-world asset (RWA) sector, which will be one of the fastest-growing segments of the crypto market between 2024 and 2025.

As of April 2025, BlackRock BUIDL has nearly $2.4 billion in blockchain assets (TVL) and the fund ranks among the top 15 DeFi protocols in the decentralized finance market. According to the DeFi Llama service for the same period, the total TVL of all protocols from the RWA sector is almost $11.3 billion, and only about 20% of the volume is accounted for by the BlackRock BUIDL protocol.

Royco Protocol

Royco Protocol has become one of the leading DeFi protocols in the decentralized finance market. As of April 2025, its TVL was $2.3 billion, ranking it 15th among all DeFi protocols.

Royco Protocol is a next-generation protocol that introduces the concept of an Incentivized Action Market (IAM). IAM platforms include protocols that allow the creation of markets to incentivize any transaction.

Providers of IAM markets are called Incentive Providers or IPs. Incentive Providers reward Action Providers or APs with, for example, tokens or points for conducting any transaction on the blockchain, be it a simple cryptocurrency transfer, adding assets to a liquidity pool, or calling smart contract functions.

The rewards on the Royco Protocol platform can be any tokens or virtual points, which can then be converted into crypto-assets. Incentive providers could be DeFi protocols or users who, for example, launch their token and wish to increase liquidity.

Kamino

Kamino, also known as Kamino Finance, is a leading lending platform on the Solana blockchain, with a TVL of nearly $2 billion as of April 2025.

Kamino's lending protocol allows users to issue and receive loans, as is the case with the well-known Aave and Compound platforms, in various tokens available in the Solana ecosystem, such as:

Kamino Finance was one of the first DeFi protocols to provide a leveraged lending option that significantly increases lending returns on the DeFi marketplace.

In May 2024, the Kamino Finance team released its own token, KMNO, based on the Solana blockchain. Despite the high popularity of the Kamino lending platform itself, the KMNO token is not in high demand and is not even among the top 3,000 cryptocurrencies.

Kodiak

Kodiak is one of the first and most liquid DeFi platforms in the new Berachain ecosystem. As of April 2025, its TVL is $1.2 billion, and the protocol itself is a decentralized exchange (DEX).

In addition to a decentralized exchange that operates as an automated market maker (AMM), Kodiak also provides other DeFi tools:

Kodiak Islands automated liquidity manager that allows regular users to make deposits and earn revenue;
Sweetened Islands' integrated incentive layer, which utilizes a Proof-of-Liquidity mechanism and is designed to attract liquidity to the DEX exchange;
Panda Factory is a platform for launching new tokens that facilitates the issuance of digital assets and initial liquidity, such as meme tokens.