Foreign media reports that Morpho, a DeFi lending protocol, has seen its total value locked (TVL) rise to $11.78 billion, ranking second in the lending sector. The article suggests that Morpho benefited from the KelpDAO attack, as some users switched to protocols that emphasize security.
Lending rankings still lag behind Aave
In terms of size, Aave remains the largest protocol in the sector, with a TVL of approximately $27 billion. Morpho is currently less than half the size of Aave, but is growing faster. In ETH terms, Morpho's TVL has increased year-over-year to approximately 2.9 million ETH, representing about 16.82% of the sector.
In terms of active lending, Morpho has reached $4 billion, approximately one-third of Aave's $11.75 billion. Regarding annualized fees, Morpho's are approximately $175 million, while Aave's are $938 million. Based on this, the article argues that Morpho still has a significant gap to close before fully catching up with Aave, but user preferences are changing.
Fund transfer after security incident
The article mentions that after the KelpDAO attack, the DeFi sector as a whole came under pressure, with many protocols showing weakened performance. Some users shifted their funds to platforms considered more secure, such as SparkLend and Morpho, and this migration drove growth in Morpho's total value locked (TVL) and lending.
However, the article also points out that this change is currently more reflected in growth rate and market share, and is not yet sufficient to indicate that Morpho has been able to replace Aave's industry position. Only if leading protocols continue to be plagued by security issues will the competitive landscape be further reshaped.
Institutional funds begin to enter
Another change at Morpho is the increased institutional participation. The article states that USDC loan originations from Coinbase have reached $2.17 billion, accounting for about half of its total active loans, indicating that the protocol is being used more frequently in institutional lending scenarios.
In addition, Apollo Global, which manages approximately $940 billion in assets, also announced its support for Morpho, with both parties expanding their lending infrastructure. The article mentions that Apollo Global plans to purchase 90 million MORPHO tokens, directly or through affiliates, over the next 48 months, which is seen as a long-term bet on the protocol and its token.
The token's price movement is highly correlated with AAVE.
Regarding market performance, the article argues that MORPHO has maintained an upward structure since April and is trading above the upward trendline support. The article cites the MACD indicator, stating that selling pressure has significantly weakened.
Meanwhile, the price correlation between MORPHO and AAVE remains high, with a correlation coefficient of 0.81. This means that although Morpho is gaining more attention due to its fundamentals, its token price movement is still closely related to the overall sentiment of the lending sector. The article argues that if the support level holds, MORPHO still has room to rise; if it breaks below the support, the short-term upward momentum may slow down.
