Wall Street is buying DeFi tokens again, even as everyone worries the code is unsafe
The total value locked (TVL) on DeFi fell from $172 billion to $148 billion as the sector logged $635 million in exploit losses across April alone. Coinbase Ventures bought Ethenas $ENA token on the open market, Janus Henderson took its own strategic $ENA position, and Morpho closed a $175 million round structured entirely around the $MORPHO token. Apollo separately secured rights to acquire up to 90 million $MORPHO tokens over 48 months. The bet these investors are making is that governance tokens attached to DeFi protocols with real institutional distribution will rerate as financial infrastructure, and that the security panic accelerates that outcome by flushing weaker protocols out of the running. A timeline graphic contrasting DeFis $635 million in April 2026 exploit losses and falling TVL against four major institutional token purchases made in June 2026.The infrastructure bet Morpho reports $11 billion-plus in deposits and counts Bitwise, Galaxy, Anchorage Digital, Coinbase, Kraken, and Binance among its institutional users. Apollos token acquisition agreement was capped at 90 million $MORPHO over 48 months with transfer and trading restrictions, structured through open-market purchases, OTC transactions, or other contractual arrangements. Fortune reported the $175 million raise valued the protocol at up to $2 billion, a figure derived entirely from the









