Data Site DeFi Pulse Fixes Bug, Says Value Locked Actually Hit $13B Last Week

The go-to analytics site for the decentralized finance (DeFi) space has admitted a bug meant it had misreported a crucial metric showing value held on DeFi protocols.

• DeFi Pulse said on Twitter late Tuesday night that it had identified and fixed a "previously undetected issue."
• Although the analytics site didn't go into specifics into what the issue was, it said it had "backfilled historical data" and that total value locked (TVL) in DeFi had actually exceeded a record $13.2 billion on September 18.
• Founded in 2019, DeFi Pulse is the primary data site for the decentralized finance space.
• Monthly web traffic has surged from 95,000 in May to well over 650,000 by August, according to SimilarWeb.

• "Due to the importance of this milestone to our community, we're thoroughly reviewing the backfilled data (i.e. crossing $13B TVL) in order to ensure it is 100% accurate," DeFi Pulse said in a follow-up tweet.
• TVL represents the dollar amount of tokens locked in protocols and is one of the most popular metrics for assessing the size and popularity of the DeFi space.
• The past week saw a precipitous drop in TVL on DeFi Pulse, falling from the all-time high figure on September 18 to just above $6 billion earlier this week.
• Still, Tuesday's decision is a substantial edit. Archived versions of DeFi Pulse from September 18 show TVL at $9.1 billion – $4 billion below the revised figure.
• Since the start of 2020, TVL has increased from roughly $675 million to $8.3 billion at press time.
• CoinDesk reached out to DeFi Pulse for more detail on the undetected issue, but hadn't received a response by press time.

See also: DeFi Angels, VC Firms Back $2M Round for Data Provider Dune Analytics