Wall Street is buying DeFi tokens again, even as everyone worries the code is unsafe
DeFi TVL fell from $172B to $148B after April exploits caused $635M in losses, pushing capital toward protocols with stronger institutional ties and better security. Coinbase Ventures and Janus Henderson bought ENA, while Morpho raised $175M in a token-based round and Apollo secured rights to buy up to 90M MORPHO over 48 months. These bets reflect a view that governance tokens for widely distributed, institutionally integrated DeFi protocols can rerate as financial infrastructure. Ethena’s USDe and Morpho already have meaningful traction: USDe’s market cap is about $4.5B, and Morpho reports over $11B in deposits, with institutional users including Bitwise, Galaxy, Coinbase, Kraken, and Binance. But token value remains uncertain because ENA and MORPHO mainly confer governance, not direct claims on protocol cash flows. The key question is whether institutional adoption translates into sustained token demand and value capture, or whether future exploits, depegs, or regulation keep governance tokens detached from underlying economics.
