According to the latest data from CryptoQuant, the total loan volume of the centralized finance (CeFi) credit market in Q1 2026 fell 6% quarter-over-quarter to $23.3 billion, marking the first industry-wide contraction since Q3 2024. The decline is attributed to crypto users deleveraging amid the prolonged bear market, which has significantly dampened borrowing demand.
Overall CeFi Credit Market Shrinkage
The Q1 2026 loan volume of $23.3 billion represents a $1.5 billion decrease from the previous quarter's $24.8 billion. Prior to this, the CeFi credit market had experienced six consecutive quarters of growth from Q3 2024 to Q4 2025, with many expecting the expansion to continue into 2026. Analysts point to a combination of factors — narrowing Bitcoin price volatility, declining DeFi lending rates, and regulatory uncertainties — that together discouraged institutional and retail users from borrowing.
Major Lender Landscape
Stablecoin issuer Tether remains the largest lender in the CeFi credit market, with a loan volume of $15.8 billion, representing a 68% market share. However, Tether's absolute scale also declined 7% quarter-over-quarter, reflecting the broader market headwinds that even the leading player cannot escape.
Maple Finance ranked second with $2.1 billion (9% share), followed by Nexo with $1.8 billion (8% share). Notably, Maple Finance and Coinbase (which recorded a loan volume roughly close to Nexo's) each achieved approximately 6% sequential growth, while Nexo posted a modest 1% increase — making them the only three major lenders to record positive growth in the quarter.
- Tether: $15.8B (68%), QoQ -7%
- Maple Finance: $2.1B (9%), QoQ +6%
- Nexo: $1.8B (8%), QoQ +1%
- Coinbase: Estimated ~$1.2-1.5B (5-6%), QoQ +6%
Market Share Shift Trends
Market share moved in favor of Maple, Nexo, and Coinbase this quarter, with the three platforms gaining 1.0, 0.5, and 0.7 percentage points, respectively. This shift suggests that even as the overall market shrinks, certain platforms are attracting more capital through differentiated products — Maple's institutional-grade lending and Coinbase's compliance advantages, for instance. In contrast, all other major lenders saw their loan volumes decline: Galaxy Digital plunged 21%, Ledn dropped 19%, making them the two worst performers. Although Tether's scale remains large, it also recorded a 7% decline.
Overall, the CeFi credit market remains highly concentrated — the top three lenders (Tether, Maple Finance, Nexo) together account for over 85% of total volume. In the near term, deleveraging is expected to continue in the bear market environment. While Tether's market share is secure, its absolute lending volume is under pressure; if Maple, Nexo, and Coinbase maintain their growth momentum, they may further eat into the share of smaller platforms.