Stellar's DeFi TVL Hits Record Milestone Driven by Institutional Money

The surge in Stellar's DeFi total value locked (TVL) has reached a new milestone, with the on-chain figure printing $197.41 million on April 24, 2026. This growth is primarily driven by tokenized real-world assets (RWAs), specifically money market funds and tokenized US and European Treasury bills issued by Spiko, Ondo Finance, and Franklin Templeton.

The bulk of Stellar's institutional RWA footprint comes from these issuers, with Spiko being the dominant player. The French-regulated issuer currently holds $563.1 million in distributed asset value on Stellar, out of $1.228 billion across seven chains. Ondo Finance brings another $123 million to the network through its tokenized short-term US Treasury yield products.

The growth stands out because most Layer 1 and Layer 2 chains have lost liquidity through 2026. Stellar moved the other way, posting 284% year-over-year TVL growth through 2025 and carrying that momentum into Q1 and Q2. The stablecoin market cap on Stellar has also retraced, falling 23.15% over the past seven days to $323.73 million.