According to Morder Intelligence, we can expect the DeFi market size to grow at a 10.98% CAGR until 2030, when it will reach a sizeable $87 billion. Many DeFi users are interested in ways to build wealth using advanced investment tools available to them in this growing ecosystem. However, it can be dangerous to venture into the world of decentralized finance without any preparations.
Knowing which DeFi investment strategies to choose and how investing in DeFi projects differs from any other instrument in traditional markets is crucial. We will cover some interesting approaches to investing and provide examples of pools that have different levels of profitability and risk. Note that we do not provide investment advice and encourage all our readers to do their own research.
The DeFi ecosystem offers over 11,000 different protocols scattered across over 100 chains offering close to 15,000 pools with TVL over $10 thousand. This ecosystem is incredibly diverse and allows investors to show off their creativity in portfolio building. On the other hand, an inexperienced newcomer may feel crushed by this rich variety.
The main question you may ask is: How can I make money with cryptocurrency in 2025? The answer is too complex for an overview of investment strategies like this one. However, what we can tell you is that focusing on reliable DeFi investment options is imperative.
One of the reasons many capital holders flock to the DeFi ecosystem is that it is possible to beat APYs offered by the tradfi economy, with high-yield bank accounts usually offering rates below 6% and US treasury bonds paying 4.11% on average (in 2024).
Simultaneously, the importance of safety and consistency should never be underestimated. Lending is a great option for investors interested in reliable returns. Many DeFi protocols offer high-risk premiums. For instance, you can take a look at Gearbox USDC Lending Market, which has a 4.9% base APY and a relatively low risk rating.
Which is better, long-term vs short-term trading? For the vast majority of Bitcoin enthusiasts, the answer is clear as day. Close to 14% of Bitcoin has not moved once in 10 years. While some of it is lost, a large chunk is owned by people who plan to hold for as long as possible, waiting for their digital assets to appreciate.
The cryptocurrency market has several good candidates for long-term holding. Bitcoin is a sure bet for many, but Ethereum, Solana, and Polkadot also show promise and have strong potential for future growth.
Staking and farming in crypto are reliable ways to make money in the short or mid term. The DeFi ecosystem has a wide range of interesting investment solutions for people who are interested in allocating capital to staking and yield farming pools.
A good example of a reliable pool is the Curve CRV Staking at Yearn with a massive 37.8% in combined APY and a solid $11.9 million TVL.
If you have a good grasp of technical analysis and have the necessary confidence to explore the crypto market personally, proactive trading can be a good idea. While “easy” money is long gone as arbitrage opportunities in crypto are difficult to exploit without automation, you can still make money by trading actively.
People without any experience with decentralized finance may visit centralized exchanges like Binance, the biggest one of all, thanks to its 18% market share. Curve DEX, Uniswap, and Pancakeswap are good destinations for DeFi traders.
Trusting a machine to do all the heavy lifting for you is a bad idea. Until we build really smart AI systems, it is unlikely that robots will bring you more returns than trading manually. However, there are some areas where automated trading systems outperform humans. Namely, high-frequency, arbitrage, and algorithmics trading.
Some robot designs have proven to be quite efficient. Grid and DCA bots use the distributed cost average approach to reduce potential losses and generate small profits consistently.
Initial coin offerings and initial exchange offerings can be profitable for people who know how to find a reliable project and pick the right timing for an exit. Without providing ICO and IEO investment tips and advice, we can say that it is a risky approach that works much like venture investments. You purchase a bunch of different tokens and hope that some of them will go to the moon.
Research, social media sentiment, and many other factors affect the price action of tokens, which can be extremely volatile.
Decentralized exchanges are always hungry for liquidity and offer solid chunks of their revenues to users who are interested in providing it. DEXes and AMMs represent a big portion of the DeFi ecosystem. The category includes over 1,600 protocols with a massive combined TVL of over $17.6 billion.
Among interesting options, we can highlight the CVX-ETH Liquidity Pool by Convex. It offers a lucrative 27.1% APY and has a respectable $6.2 million TVL. It has a high-risk rating, according to Rivo, but can be a good short-term investment for capital holders who don’t mind some risk.
It is quite interesting how technological innovations are shaping the future of cryptocurrency investments. Liquid staking is a novel approach to investing in digital currencies. It allows users to earn staking rewards while keeping their assets liquid and usable on other decentralized finance platforms.
Just a couple of months ago, it was the hottest category in DeFi. Now, it trails behind Lending protocols but still has a massive $36.7 billion TVL.
Fractional ownership of real-world assets can be a good idea for some investors who want to stay flexible. Tokenization of RWA assets is one of the hottest cryptocurrency market trends in 2025, with protocols like MakerDAO leading the pack.
This DeFi category has over 80 different platforms with a solid combined TVL of over $9.4 billion. Maker RWA is the biggest protocol with over $1.5 billion in total value locked. Ondo Finance, BlackRock BUIDL, and Usual are other projects deserving mention.
The role of community and social media in influencing investment decisions is very high in the DeFi ecosystem. One of the most discussed and intriguing narratives in the world of crypto is the implementation of artificial intelligence in blockchain and DeFi.
Many AI-centric protocols like KAITO, NEAR Protocol, Fetch.ai, and others are doing great and raising capital with an impressive level of consistency. Right now, you can invest in a variety of AI agents on VIRTUALS. It offers over 700 different AI agents, with many reaching market caps of over $1.5 million.
Picking the right strategy for DeFi investment is not an easy task, even for a veteran. It can be very difficult to research hundreds of protocols, chains, and exchanges to make informed decisions. Keeping in mind the impact of regulatory changes on cryptocurrency strategies is another pain for many investors.
We strongly believe that you can find a better way to do DeFi investing! Rivo invites you to its diverse yield marketplace. It is a place with dozens of hand-picked strategies. A team of experts does all the legwork so you don’t have to do your due diligence personally and can pick from a list of investment options with predefined risk levels and prognosed profitability.
Learn how to stay updated on new trends and opportunities in the cryptocurrency market by interacting with the flexible Maneki AI assistant, explore strategies that won’t make you anxious, and invest safely with Rivo!
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