📝 Editor’s Note:

Welcome to Part One of OurNetwork's two-part series covering lending protocols, platforms which allow users to borrow permissionlessly, typically against collateralized assets.

This issue features some of the most impactful projects in the DeFi subsector — this includes Aave, crypto’s largest protocol by total value locked, as well as Morpho, whose peer-to-peer model propelled the relative newcomer to rank third by TVL among lenders.

We're also featuring Euler, whose modular infrastructure allows for permissionless vault creation. Euler has ridden a wave of momentum in 2025 to enter the top 10 lending protocols by TVL.

Finally, we've got coverage of Suilend, the leading lending protocol on the Sui blockchain. 

Shoutout to Omer + Chaos Labs, JJ, Miguel, and Biff for writing up the reports below.

Let’s get into it. 

– ON Editorial Team

Aave | Morpho | Euler | Suilend

• Aave is a decentralized, non-custodial protocol that enables users to lend and borrow crypto assets permissionlessly. Aave has over $28B in TVL across deployments on Ethereum, Arbitrum, Optimism, Polygon, Avalanche, Base, zkSync, and most recently, Sonic. Ethereum remains the largest market on Aave, with over $21.6B in total supply. However, BNB and Avalanche have experienced rapid growth year-to-date, up +19% and +14%, respectively. Sonic, a newly launched EVM Layer 1 developed by the well-established Fantom Foundation, has already reached $480M in TVL.

• Stablecoins and synthetic dollars currently comprise approximately 31.3% of Aave’s total TVL, totalling $8.81B. Ethena’s synthetic dollar, USDe, has seen explosive growth of ~1,340% over the past month — reaching over $450M in TVL.

• Aave has been battle-tested over the past 90 days, processing $320M in liquidations—including $210M in a single day during February’s tariff-driven market crash. This resilience reflects Aave’s risk framework, now enhanced by Edge Risk Oracles for real-time, onchain risk management.

• Currently holding over $4B in total deposits, Morpho is the second-largest lending protocol on Ethereum and the largest on Base, the Coinbase-developed Layer 2, by total deposits. Morpho is permissionless and operates on two levels — one it offers tailored solutions that allow users to earn and borrow on their own terms. And two, it has a flexible infrastructure that enables developers and businesses to build custom applications.

• Morpho pioneered the curator role — offering tailored lending solutions based on user risk profiles. Curators allocate assets across Morpho markets to earn interest and collect fees, generating millions in ARR. Curators like as Gauntlet and Steakhouse curate vaults with $500M in TVL.

• Morpho is the default backend of the DeFi Mullet— fintech in the front, DeFi in the back. In January 2025, Coinbase launched its crypto-backed loans, built on the cbBTC/USDC market on Morpho. So far, it has attracted over $130M in collateral and $63M+ in loans.

• Euler is one the most flexible lending platforms by letting any asset become collateral for a lending market. With institutional-grade security and features like multi-collateral support, aggregated vaults, and oracle flexibility it’s built for capital efficiency. After launching its second iteration in September, Euler has recently become the fastest growing lending protocol now with its TVL passing $1 billion total deposits. Earlier this month, it took another big step forward by launching on Avalanche and BNB.

• Active loans on Euler are up ~30x to $507M in 90 days, driven by its multichain expansion — to Sonic, Avalanche, Base, Bera — and vaults like Usual’s USL, Resolv’s USR, Apostro BTC, and Euler Yield. All powered by Euler's modular design built for fast-moving and diverse market needs.

• Euler Prime, Euler’s market for borrowing stablecoins against bluechips and Real World Assets (RWAs) grew 20% week-over-week following optimizations to LTVs, oracles, and incentives from Objective Labs, a DeFi growth partner. Euler now leads WETH yields, with liquid staking token (LST) supply (rsETH, weETH, ezETH, tETH, wstETH) rapidly being borrowed out.

• Suilend is a decentralized lending protocol on the Sui blockchain, designed for efficient borrowing and lending on Sui. Since launching in March 2024, TVL has grown from $685K to $353.5M (+50,123%) as of Apr. 16, 2025. The SUI token is the dominant collateral, accounting for 69% of deposits, with over $130M in liquid staked SUI (sSUI) provided via Spring SUI, a liquid staking protocol. Suilend's rise mirrors ecosystem-wide momentum, with products like Spring SUI and Steamm, an automated market maker (AMM), driving liquidity across lending, staking, and decentralized exchange (DEX) layers.

• Daily active users (DAU) surged across the Suilend ecosystem in 30 days, indicating clear interest for Sui staking and lending. Steamm DAU increased from 7 to 170 (+2,329%) month-over-month, followed by Spring SUI which grew from 35 to 484 (+1,283%). Suilend saw steadier growth, going from 1,362 to 1,859 (36%).

• As mentioned above, sSUI (37.35%) and SUI (32.88%) make up 70% of deposits, showing clear demand for native and liquid-staked assets. Bitcoin DeFi —sometimes called BTCfi— on Sui is also heating up, as LBTC, issued by Lombard, and WBTC, the largest wrapped version of BTC, make up over 10% of deposits, a 65% increase. The Suilend ecosystem continues to gain traction in downturns.