Quick Breakdown
- CeFi lending rebounds to nearly $25B in Q3 2025, driven by improved transparency and new entrants such as Tether, Nexo, and Galaxy.
- Tether dominates with a 60% market share, while uncollateralized lending has nearly vanished due to tighter risk controls.
- DeFi lending hits a record $41B, pushing the combined crypto loan market to an all-time high of $65.4B.
CeFi loan books rebound to nearly $25B
The crypto lending industry is staging a strong comeback, hitting nearly $25 billion in outstanding loans in the third quarter, its most robust level since early 2022. New data from Galaxy Research shows that the sector has grown more than 200% since January 2024, driven by an influx of more transparent centralised lenders.
the cefi crypto lending league table is out 👀
crypto lenders had an aggregate loan book of nearly $25 billion outstanding at the end of Q3 2025, the highest since the Q1 2022 peak
proud of this chart and the transparency of its contributors. big change from prior market cycles… pic.twitter.com/xOOcM5Q27n
— Alex Thorn (@intangiblecoins) November 30, 2025
Although the market still hasn’t recovered to its all-time high of $37 billion recorded in Q1 2022, analysts say the industry is in far better shape today. Galaxy’s head of research, Alex Thorn, attributed the rebound to the rise of better-governed platforms and clearer reporting standards, calling the shift a “big change from prior market cycles.”
New players replace fallen giants
During the last bull-cycle peak, the CeFi landscape was dominated by firms like Genesis, BlockFi, Celsius and Voyager, all of which collapsed or suffered heavy losses due to exposure to the failed FTX exchange.
Celsius had already filed for bankruptcy in July 2022, following the implosion of Three Arrows Capital, months before FTX’s collapse accelerated the sector-wide meltdown.
In the vacuum left behind, Thorn says a new class of lenders has emerged, prioritising transparency and balance-sheet discipline.
Tether leads with 60% market share
Stablecoin issuer Tether now sits atop the CeFi lending market with $14.6 billion in open loans, accounting for roughly 60% of all outstanding CeFi credit as of September 30. Nexo follows with $2 billion, while Galaxy holds $1.8 billion, according to the research.
Tether continues to publish quarterly attestations, while Galaxy and Coinbase release detailed financial disclosures. Nexo, Thorn noted, provides its data proactively to Galaxy Research, a stark contrast to the opaque practices that fuelled the 2022 collapses.
DeFi lending breaks record with $41B outstanding
While CeFi lending is recovering, DeFi lending has already smashed past old records. Dollar-denominated outstanding loans on decentralized finance platforms climbed 54.8% in Q3, reaching a new all-time high of $41 billion.
When combining both CeFi and DeFi venues, the industry closed the quarter with $65.4 billion in outstanding crypto-collateralized loans, the largest in history.
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