What counts as a chain here?

Any real blockchain or layer with DeFi activity that DefiLlama independently tracks, from major networks to smaller emerging ones.

No. DefiLlama's public API is free and key-less.

Why do rankings shift?

Real capital moves between chains, and token price changes shift dollar-denominated TVL even without new deposits.

Yes — free, no download, in your browser.

Why does TVL fall when token prices fall?

TVL is valued in dollars, so when the tokens held in contracts lose dollar value, the total drops even if nobody withdraws anything.

Is TVL the same as market capitalisation?

No. Market cap values a chain’s own token supply, while TVL values assets held in applications built on the chain, many of which are other tokens.

Chain TVL Race Screensaver

The Chain TVL Race screensaver ranks blockchains by real Total Value Locked on a live bar race, drawn key-less from DefiLlama's open chains API. It's free, runs in your browser, and ESC exits.

How the Chain TVL Race screensaver works

The saver fetches real current TVL for every tracked blockchain from DefiLlama, with no key required.

Chains rank top to bottom by real locked value, with each bar sized to scale.

Bars ease smoothly to new positions whenever the real ranking shifts on refresh.

Choose how many chains appear on the board at once.

Total value locked and how chains are compared

Total value locked, or TVL, is the dollar value of crypto assets held inside the smart contracts of decentralized-finance applications. DefiLlama, an open analytics site, tallies this protocol by protocol and totals it per chain, which lets networks such as Ethereum, Solana or Tron be compared on one scale. Its listing guidelines treat TVL as assets held by users inside a platform’s own contracts.

TVL is a stock, not a flow. It measures what sits in contracts at a given moment, which is different from trading volume or user counts. Because it is quoted in dollars, it moves with token prices even if nobody deposits or withdraws anything, so a market-wide rally lifts every bar.

What counts is a matter of method. DefiLlama’s guidelines exclude assets that are not on a blockchain, such as bank-held fiat, and separate out categories like a platform’s own staked tokens, borrowed funds and vesting tokens so they can be filtered. Assets that one protocol generates and deposits into another are meant to count toward the later protocol, to limit double counting. A chain’s ranking says how much value is in its apps, not how secure, decentralized or widely used it is, and it shouldn’t be read as a recommendation.

A worked example

You'll see the real current leading chains at the top — genuine aggregated on-chain value, with smaller chains occasionally overtaking larger ones on a real capital rotation.

Settings & tips

Chains shown sets how many bars appear.
Accent recolours the bars.
A real jump can reflect either new deposits or a token price move — TVL is dollar-denominated.

Frequently asked questions

What counts as a chain here?: Any real blockchain or layer with DeFi activity that DefiLlama independently tracks, from major networks to smaller emerging ones.
Is a key needed?: No. DefiLlama's public API is free and key-less.
Why do rankings shift?: Real capital moves between chains, and token price changes shift dollar-denominated TVL even without new deposits.
Is it free?: Yes — free, no download, in your browser.
Why does TVL fall when token prices fall?: TVL is valued in dollars, so when the tokens held in contracts lose dollar value, the total drops even if nobody withdraws anything.
Is TVL the same as market capitalisation?: No. Market cap values a chain’s own token supply, while TVL values assets held in applications built on the chain, many of which are other tokens.

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