Wall Street Firms Invest in DeFi Infrastructure

Recent investments by Wall Street firms in decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols are sparking interest in the market. Apollo Global Management, BlackRock, and ParaFi Capital have acquired significant stakes in Morpho, Uniswap, and Jupiter respectively.

Morpho's token MORPHO has seen a notable increase of nearly 30% in value over the past week following Apollo's announcement to acquire up to 90 million tokens. This acquisition represents approximately 9% of the total supply and grants Apollo governance exposure and influence over lending markets built on Morpho's infrastructure.

Uniswap's token UNI has also seen a significant price increase, rising by nearly 20%, after BlackRock confirmed its purchase of UNI 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.

Jupiter's JUP token has also rallied following ParaFi Capital's investment of $35 million directly into the protocol. Unlike traditional venture deals, ParaFi purchased 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.