<p>MakerDAO, a non-custodial lending protocol, has become the first decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol to hit $1 billion in total value locked.</p> <p>The milestone means MakerDAO users have $1 billion worth of funds locked in the protocol for lending purposes. With that mark, MakerDAO now dominates the DeFi space with nearly 28% share, according to tracker <a href="https://defipulse.com/">DeFi Pulse</a>.</p> <p>MakerDAO is followed by Compound and Synthetix, which have ~$764 million and ~$423 million in total value locked, respectively, per the tracker. Aave, Balancer and Curve Finance are part of the top 10 protocols.</p> <p>Overall, DeFi protocols now have over $3.60 billion in total value locked. It didn't take much time for these protocols to reach that number. Just earlier this month, the total amount locked was <a href="https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/70567/defi-hits-2-billion-in-total-value-locked-compound-snatches-makerdaos-top-spot">$2 billion</a>, and this February, it was <a href="https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/55212/value-locked-into-defi-protocols-has-crossed-1-billion">$1 billion</a>.</p> <p>As The Block previously reported, one needs to take the total value locked with a grain of salt as it does not take into consideration vertical-specific parameters, such as decentralized exchange (DEX) volumes. <a href="https://www.theblockresearch.com/introducing-the-blocks-open-finance-index-ofi-49568">The Block's Open Finance Index (OFI)</a>, developed by Matteo Leibowitz, accounts for those parameters to reflect the real picture of the DeFi ecosystem.</p> <p>The <a href="https://explore.duneanalytics.com/public/dashboards/NQ9Co0On9h9cqpAxxDW44u7ZycFE5jGC2u1xJb3B">OFI</a> has also grown sharply — over ten times — within the last month. </p>