defi

According to CoinDesk, MoonPay announced the launch of a new platform, MoonPay Trade, aimed at banks, fintech companies, and corporate clients, providing unified access to tokenized assets, decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols, and stablecoin liquidity, covering over 200 blockchain networks.It is reported that MoonPay Trade will become the core execution layer of its institutional business, MoonPay Institutional, supporting tokenized fund subscriptions, collateral transfers, and integration with DeFi protocols such as Aave, Morpho, and Maple Finance, enabling institutions to conduct lending and yield generation operations directly on-chain.

JPMorgan's latest report points out that although tokenized money market funds have revenue potential, they still only account for about 5% of the broader "stablecoin system," and the core position of stablecoins in the crypto ecosystem is unlikely to be replaced in the short term.The report states that stablecoins have become the default "cash tool" for trading, collateral, settlement, cross-border payments, and liquidity management, widely used in centralized exchanges and DeFi protocols, while tokenized money market funds are constrained by their securities characteristics, subject to registration, disclosure, and transfer restrictions, resulting in structural regulatory disadvantages.Analysts at JPMorgan, led by Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou, expect that without significant changes in the regulatory environment, the market size of tokenized money market funds is unlikely to exceed 10% to 15% of the overall stablecoin market. Current demand is mainly concentrated among crypto-native investors seeking yield and institutional funds looking to balance on-chain settlement with traditional asset protection.The report also notes that although tokenized funds have advantages such as near real-time settlement, 24/7 transfers, and automated clearing, their growth is still constrained by liquidity, counterparty risk, and regulatory uncertainty. JPMorgan believes that in the absence of regulatory easing, these products will struggle to challenge the infrastructure-level position of stablecoins in the crypto market.

According to SoSoValue data, the cryptocurrency market sector has generally rebounded, with a 24-hour increase of about 2% to 8%. Among them, the DeFi sector performed well, rising by 8.37%. Within this sector, Hyperliquid (HYPE) rose by 17.07%, Jupiter (JUP) rose by 9.07%, and Ondo Finance (ONDO) rose by 10.01%. At the same time, Bitcoin (BTC) rose by 1.61%, breaking through $77,000; Ethereum (ETH) rose by 1.59%, breaking through $2,100.It is worth noting that MAG7.ssi rose by 1.73%, DEFI.ssi rose by 9.96%, and MEME.ssi rose by 1.37%.In other sectors, the Layer2 sector rose by 4.85% in 24 hours, with Starknet (STRK) rising by 9.23%; the Layer1 sector rose by 3.60%, with Zcash (ZEC) rising by 14.25%; the PayFi sector rose by 2.31%, with Dash (DASH) rising by 19.48%; the CeFi sector rose by 2.28%, with Mantle (MNT) rising by 8.63%; the Meme sector rose by 0.38%, with Cheems Token (CHEEMS) rising by 23.80%.The cryptocurrency sector indices reflecting historical market trends show that the ssiDeFi, ssiLayer2, and ssiNFT indices rose by 9.78%, 5.27%, and 5.03%, respectively.

According to Token Terminal data, Steakhouse Fi's leading advantage in the Morpho curator ecosystem has expanded to approximately $1 billion, far exceeding the second place. A year ago, there was almost no significant gap between the protocol and its competitors, indicating rapid growth and market consolidation over the past year.Morpho operates on a curator model, where multiple treasury managers compete for liquidity by offering different risk-return configurations and strategies. Steakhouse Fi's dominance indicates that it has successfully achieved differentiation or gained significant user trust within the Morpho ecosystem. The curator ecosystem remains an active competitive area in the DeFi space, with various protocols increasingly relying on specialized managers to expand capital deployment across different risk levels and strategies.

Lighter may benefit from the recent "fireside chat" between founder Vlad Novakovski and Vitalik discussing high-performance applications on Ethereum and the ZK Rollup scaling roadmap, as well as smart money seeking undervalued targets in the same sector amid multiple favorable conditions. Its platform token Lit has strengthened against the overall weakness in the crypto market. According to HTX data, it is currently priced at $1.771, with a 24-hour increase of 21.87%. The current market focus is on Lighter's high-performance application scenarios in the Ethereum ecosystem, its scalability roadmap, and the future development direction of decentralized finance (DeFi).In addition, according to DefiLlama data, Lighter's 24-hour trading volume reached $1.289 billion, with a holding volume exceeding $760 million.

According to The Block, crypto market maker Wintermute has launched the DeFi vault curation platform Armitage, designed for non-custodial vaults catering to different risk appetites, to access decentralized lending opportunities. Wintermute stated that, relying on its market-making business and clearing execution capabilities, Armitage can accept "collateral types that other curators cannot support." The announcement mentioned that user deposits do not require KYC, and users retain control over their funds. As institutions continue to engage in vault strategies like Morpho on Ethereum and Kamino on Solana, vaults are becoming an important tool for institutional participation in the crypto market.

The DeFi lending protocol Alchemix announced the completion of its cross-chain infrastructure update. The old alUSD / alETH cross-chain bridge on Optimism and Arbitrum has officially been taken offline and replaced with a new cross-chain bridge compatible with v3 alchemist.Alchemix disclosed that it has synchronized the DVN (cross-chain transaction validation) configuration, maintaining a 2/3 multi-signature confirmation mechanism for cross-chain transactions, while introducing Deutsche Telekom as a validation service provider to enhance the reliability of the cross-chain validation infrastructure.

The Echo Protocol encountered a vulnerability attack on the Monad network, where the attacker minted 1,000 eBTC (worth approximately $76.64 million). According to PeckShield's tracking, the attacker deposited 45 eBTC (about $3.45 million) into Curvance, borrowed 11.29 WBTC, and then bridged it to Ethereum to exchange for ETH, of which 384 ETH were transferred to Tornado Cash. Curvance has suspended the affected market, stating that the smart contract was not compromised and other markets were unaffected.The Echo Protocol has suspended all cross-chain transactions. Monad CEO Keone Hon clarified that the vulnerability did not affect the Monad network, and security researchers assessed that approximately $816,000 was actually stolen.This incident raises the total number of crypto hacking events in May to 14, with three significant DeFi attacks occurring in just the past five days: THORChain suffered a treasury vulnerability loss of over $10 million on May 15, and the Verus Ethereum cross-chain bridge was attacked three days later, resulting in a loss of about $11.58 million. The series of security incidents highlights the systemic security risks that the DeFi sector continues to face.

Kelp stated on platform X that it has collaborated with multiple DeFi protocols to complete the liquidation of the attacker’s positions, and the recovery process of rsETH has made significant progress. Among them, Compound has participated in coordination multiple times over the past four weeks and provided about 3,000 ETH in support, while jointly completing the liquidation with Aave, recovering a total of approximately 17,426.2 rsETH. Euler Finance has liquidated the attacker’s positions within its protocol and plans to return the excess ETH to the DeFi ecosystem fund.

According to CoinDesk, the stablecoin payment blockchain Tempo, supported by Stripe and Paradigm, is integrating Morpho's $7.5 billion DeFi lending market to provide on-chain lending and yield products for fintech companies and enterprises built on it. This integration allows Tempo users to access one of the largest lending protocols in DeFi, transforming stablecoin balances from idle assets into interest-bearing assets.Previously, Tempo was primarily positioned as a funds transfer blockchain, providing enterprises with stablecoin transfer, foreign exchange, and settlement tools. The addition of Morpho expands it into a more complete financial stack.

According to Bloomberg, informed sources revealed that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) may issue "innovation exemption" rules for tokenized stocks as early as this week, establishing a new framework for trading crypto versions of publicly listed company stocks. The SEC is inclined to allow trading of third-party tokens that are not endorsed or approved by the listed companies, which can be traded on decentralized crypto platforms but may not necessarily have rights such as voting or dividends.This exemption covers tokens traded on DeFi platforms and will test whether stock trading can migrate to crypto infrastructure in the absence of traditional equity market protections. SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce is the main proponent of this exemption, but some SEC officials do not support the decision. Institutions such as Citadel Securities and SIFMA have expressed opposition, warning that this move could undermine investor protection measures like KYC and anti-money laundering. Peirce stated that the exemption is an important step, but it will not change the entire financial system overnight.

According to The Block, Geoffrey Kendrick, the global head of digital asset research at Standard Chartered Bank, stated that the total scale of on-chain tokenized assets is expected to reach $4 trillion by the end of 2028, with stablecoins and real-world assets (RWA) each accounting for $2 trillion. Standard Chartered believes that DeFi protocols with mature risk control systems and scalability will be the main beneficiaries of this trend, while the advancement of the U.S. Clarity Act may become an important catalyst for accelerating the on-chain transition of traditional finance.Kendrick pointed out that the core advantage of DeFi lies in "composability." In an on-chain environment, the same asset can simultaneously earn yields, serve as collateral, and maintain liquidity, which the traditional financial system cannot achieve with similar efficiency. He stated that this structural advantage means "1+1=3." Standard Chartered cited BlackRock's tokenized U.S. Treasury fund BUIDL as an example, noting that the product not only yields about 4% from U.S. Treasuries but can also be converted into sBUIDL for use in lending protocol collateral and serves as a reserve asset for products like Ethena USDtb and Ondo OUSG.The report also noted that the current scale of off-chain assets is still about 1,000 times that of on-chain assets, and the tokenization of institutional-grade assets may become the core source of growth for the next phase of the industry. Regarding institutional adoption, Standard Chartered mentioned that Aave's asset scale once matched that of the 38th largest bank in the U.S., and the current daily trading volume of on-chain stablecoin lending has reached $1.5 billion to $2 billion.At the same time, the Bitcoin lending product developed in collaboration between Coinbase and Morpho currently has a loan scale of about $1.75 billion, covering approximately 22,000 borrowers, indicating that traditional financial institutions are gradually using DeFi as underlying infrastructure.