$25B crypto lending market now led by ‘transparent’ players: Galaxy

The crypto lending market has grown over 200% since the start of 2024, hitting nearly $25 billion in outstanding loans in the third quarter, according to Galaxy Research. This level is the highest since Q1 2022, though still below the peak of $37 billion then. A key difference now is the increased transparency among lending platforms, according to Alex Thorn, Galaxy's head of research. The previous cycle's dominant centralized finance (CeFi) lenders, such as Genesis, BlockFi, Celsius, and Voyager, were heavily impacted by the FTX collapse. The vacuum has been filled by more transparent entities; Tether now dominates with $14.6 billion in open loans (60% market share), followed by Nexo ($2 billion) and Galaxy ($1.8 billion). Surviving CeFi lenders have adopted stricter risk controls, favoring full collateralization and greater transparency to attract institutional capital. Meanwhile, decentralized finance (DeFi) lending also hit a new quarter-end high of $41 billion in Q3, bringing the combined crypto-collateralized borrowing total to a record $65.4 billion.

(Source：Cointelegraph)