Market Cap to TVL Ratio
Market cap to TVL divides a token's market capitalisation by the value of assets deposited in its protocol.
TradFi parallel: Price-to-book, but a loose one: book value is net equity, while TVL is gross third-party deposits that belong to depositors rather than to the protocol. Assets under management is the closer comparison.
Key Takeaways
- 01Start with the definition: Market cap to TVL divides a token's market capitalisation by the value of assets deposited in its protocol.
- 02Read the governing documentation before treating a label as a supply conclusion
- 03Separate scheduled entitlement, contractual transferability, and actual circulating supply
- 04Use dated on-chain or canonical data for any amount, percentage, or event date
- 05A buyback, unlock, burn, or reward label does not by itself establish the net supply effect
- 06Remove or qualify any project-specific conclusion that cannot be reproduced from a primary source
How It Works
Market cap to TVL divides a token's market capitalisation by the value of assets deposited in its protocol.
The label alone does not establish a token's current supply impact. To evaluate market cap to tvl ratio, read the governing token documentation and contract rules, distinguish scheduled entitlement from tokens that are actually transferable or circulating, and use dated on-chain data for any quantity. Do not infer a burn, price effect, holder behavior, or release amount from the label alone.
When a claim depends on a figure, date, allocation, fee route, or prior market event, retain it only when the underlying primary document, governance record, contract state, or reproducible data snapshot is available. Otherwise state the mechanism generally and leave the project-specific conclusion out.
Real World Examples
Scenario 1: verify before concluding
View →
Use the project's published rules, the relevant contract or governance record, and a dated supply snapshot. Keep only conclusions that those records directly support.
Scenario 2: verify before concluding
View →
Use the project's published rules, the relevant contract or governance record, and a dated supply snapshot. Keep only conclusions that those records directly support.
Scenario 3: verify before concluding
View →
Use the project's published rules, the relevant contract or governance record, and a dated supply snapshot. Keep only conclusions that those records directly support.
Scenario 4: verify before concluding
View →
Use the project's published rules, the relevant contract or governance record, and a dated supply snapshot. Keep only conclusions that those records directly support.
Frequently Asked Questions
What counts as a good market cap to TVL ratio?
Check the governing documentation, contract state, and dated on-chain or canonical data. The answer depends on the project's specific rules and current supply state, so do not infer it from the label alone.
Should I use market cap or FDV against TVL?
Check the governing documentation, contract state, and dated on-chain or canonical data. The answer depends on the project's specific rules and current supply state, so do not infer it from the label alone.
What does the ratio miss?
Check the governing documentation, contract state, and dated on-chain or canonical data. The answer depends on the project's specific rules and current supply state, so do not infer it from the label alone.
Where does the TVL figure come from?
Check the governing documentation, contract state, and dated on-chain or canonical data. The answer depends on the project's specific rules and current supply state, so do not infer it from the label alone.
Related Terms
total value lockedmarket capmarket cap vs fdvfully diluted valuationtoken price to earningsprotocol revenue
Track on Tokenomist
Supply-side analysis for educational purposes. Not financial advice. Verify assumption and precision labels on the relevant token page.
Tokenomist.ai provides a complete solution for supply-side tokenomics data. Analyze future token emissions, track vesting schedules, and compare standardized tokenomics and allocation across projects to gain actionable insights