**TON’s Flagship DEXs Extend TVL Decline Following Durov’s Arrest**
The two largest decentralized exchanges (DEXs) on the TON chain, STON.fi and DeDust, have experienced a significant decline in their total value locked (TVL) by over 60% since the end of July. DeDust's TVL, which nearly reached $400 million on July 21, has plummeted to $111 million, marking a 68% drop. Similarly, STON.fi's TVL has decreased from its peak of $373 million on July 31 to $139 million.
This decline is part of a broader bearish trend in the crypto market, with the aggregate TVL of all DeFi projects falling from over $100 billion in mid-July to less than $78 billion by early August. However, the situation for DeDust and STON.fi worsened following the arrest of Pavel Durov, the co-founder and CEO of Telegram, on August 24. Durov's arrest led to a 20% drop in the price of Toncoin, the most deposited crypto asset in both DEXs.
As a result, TON's entire DeFi ecosystem has lost over 40% this week, making it the worst performer among the top 100 blockchains in DeFi. The network's TVL now stands at $307 million, down from $508 million on Saturday.