Pendle Reaches $9 Billion TVL Milestone, PT-Backed Positions Hit $4.6 Billion Record

Pendle’s ecosystem has crossed a significant threshold, with total value locked surging past the $9 billion mark on August 13, marking a breakthrough moment for the protocol. The surge underscores the growing appetite for yield optimization strategies in decentralized finance, where billions of dollars in assets are now deployed across derivative markets.

The $9 billion figure comprises $6.4 billion concentrated in Principal Tokens (PT), which have become the backbone of Pendle’s collateral ecosystem. This reflects an emerging reality: with a billion dollars worth of value now locked in yield markets, investors are discovering new ways to maximize returns across various time horizons.

A key catalyst for this growth came from Aave’s recent decision to expand the borrowing limit for PT-USDe (September 2025) by $600 million. The fresh capacity was rapidly absorbed by market participants, demonstrating strong demand for these yield-bearing positions. This move directly fueled the explosion in PT-backed collateral, which climbed to an all-time high of $4.6 billion.

The expansion reflects a broader trend where protocols are competing to capture a piece of the multi-billion dollar derivative market. Pendle’s ability to attract such significant capital into its PT infrastructure suggests that yield delegation mechanisms are becoming a core pillar of DeFi’s infrastructure, reshaping how users think about deploying capital across protocols.