Wall Street Firms Invest in DeFi Tokens Amid Growing Institutional Confidence

Recent deals between Wall Street firms and DeFi protocols have sparked significant price increases for three major tokens - Morpho (MORPHO), Uniswap (UNI), and Jupiter (JUP). The investments made by Apollo Global Management, BlackRock, and ParaFi Capital in these tokens demonstrate a growing trend of institutional involvement in onchain financial infrastructure.

The most notable deal is between Apollo Global Management and Morpho, where the firm has agreed to acquire up to 90 million MORPHO tokens over four years. This represents around 9% of the total supply and gives Apollo governance exposure as well as a position to support lending markets built on Morpho's infrastructure.

BlackRock's investment in UNI is also significant, with the firm purchasing tokens alongside integrating its $2 billion tokenized Treasury fund, BUIDL, onto Uniswap's institutional trading infrastructure. This integration allows institutional investors to trade tokenized Treasury exposure using Uniswap's decentralized exchange rails, and gives BlackRock governance influence over the protocol that now hosts its fund.

ParaFi Capital has also made a notable investment in Jupiter, purchasing $35 million worth of JUP tokens at market price with lockups and warrants for future purchases. This deal marks Jupiter's first institutional investment and aligns ParaFi with the platform's expansion into lending, stablecoins, and institutional trading infrastructure.

These deals highlight a broader trend of Wall Street firms acquiring governance stakes in core DeFi protocols, rather than simply buying crypto assets. This shift signals growing confidence in onchain financial rails and explains the strong price reactions across lending and trading infrastructure tokens.